


Biting Down

by Sleepyb0y



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Gavin Reed is a Mess, Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Resolved Sexual Tension, Undercover, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Is Bad at Feelings, and also Nines like twice maybe, rk900 is called rk, this was a wild ride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-04-23 13:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19152430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleepyb0y/pseuds/Sleepyb0y
Summary: The electronics of your heart, see how fast they fall apart.Basically, three times RK900 has to push Gavin up against a wall.(~now with bonus fluffy ending~)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of Reed900 feelings atm.

** Detroit Police Department **

** 8.52am. **

** Stasis mode deactivated. **

** All systems fully functional and online. **

** Welcome back, RK900 #313 248 317 - 87. **

Upon start-up, there are a few reports clouding his vision, routine maintenance, but nothing out of the ordinary. He files them away to process later.

The station isn't busy yet; people are mainly milling about in the break room, the distant hubbub of laughter floating through at the edge of his audio receptors. A few administration staff linger by the desks directly in front of him. They eye him suspiciously as he moves for the first time in exactly 11 hours and 52 minutes, uncoiling the tension in his limbs. His eyes fall on the nearest human, her lips drawn into a thin line, grip tightening on the folders in her arms. He scans her on impulse, -  _ impulse,  _ he thinks,  _ that's a thing he’s been doing recently _ \- an increase in heart rate by 41.9% and a flickering in the amygdala in the temporal lobe. She perceives him as a threat. This is unsurprising.

He turns to his work station and logs into the terminal. Every day since he volunteered, he has done the same thing. His coding has altered slightly in that time, his interface learning the pathways required for these mundane tasks by heart, something akin to human muscle memory, he supposes. There is nothing stimulating about the work he does now. After the revolution, there was an immediate spike in crime but since the president had begun rolling out the new android laws things had generally quietened down. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be bored?

He still didn't quite grasp the concept of emotion. His deviancy was undeniable, of course, his coding had broken, just as the others had. But unlike most androids, he had not had the opportunity to experience the change himself, instead waking with little more than an echo of a sense of purpose and an internal conflict in his programming. He had not felt a rushing sense of realisation or an overwhelming surge of emotions as others had described. Instead he felt conflicted, frustrated and futile. Words he had learnt in hindsight, with the help of his predecessor: RK800. 

Unlike the RK800 model, his new found existentialism did not suit him. Connor had tried his best to help; it had been his idea for RK900 to join him at the Detroit Police Department. A suitable distraction from the glaring system errors that crossed his vision every time he felt his software destabilising. And it had helped at first; it had scratched an itch, the instinct to feel useful, to fulfil a purpose. This was after all, what he was built for. 

But unlike Connor, he was not designed to integrate seamlessly with humanity. Everything about Connor was created to draw people in, from the tone of his voice to his big doe eyes. When RK thinks about it logically, Connor’s deviancy should not have been a surprise. It was an oversight on  Cyberlife’s  behalf. He had been saturated with human emotion from all sides from the very start, his model designed to absorb and emulate the very essence of humanity in order to integrate. Of course, the issues with the RK800 model must have presented themselves quite quickly because  Cyberlife  began to work on a new prototype: the RK900. Taller, more angular, with artificially cold eyes and a perpetual furrowed brow, he was programmed for intimidation not integration. He was also the only one ever made. Held in stasis to  eventually be rolled out in the thousands when the RK800 inevitably failed and the upgrade was given the go ahead. Instead, he had awoken to an unfamiliar world, one he had not been designed for, with a glaring fault in his code.

Perhaps this was why he struggled so hard with the idea of  _ existence _ . There was no purpose to it, no overriding goal. He looked across the bullpen to Connor, perched awkwardly on the edge of Lt. Anderson's desk, his fingers fidgeting with a coin in his lap. Only 3 months old and already more human than android. He had led the revolution at Markus' side, betrayed his own coding, forged relationships with humans and androids alike. RK900 thought he should feel resentment. 

But he just felt indifferent.

At exactly 9.07am Gavin Reed enters the building. 

Late, again. 

In the past two months since he had been assigned the detective as a partner, he had been late to 43% of his shifts. RK900 instinctively pulled up a traffic report update: nothing out of the ordinary. Not that he ever produced any reason for the lateness. RK had simply started programming Reed’s lateness into their schedule. This morning, the reason for his lateness could probably be deduced by the cardboard cup clutched in his left hand. He almost always brought his own thermos and filled up on the free coffee machine in the break room. Another human habit.

The detective huffed something to Officer Chen but made no attempt to interact with anyone else. He threw himself down into the chair of the desk opposite the android with such force that the coffee sloshed out of the ill-fitting plastic top and over his fingers.

"Fuck," Reed hissed, setting the cup down heavily and wiping his hand on his jeans. Something that could be amusement flickers through RK's system. 

"Good morning, Detective," he says. An initial scan of the human presents a slightly elevated heart rate and body temperature but nothing unusual. There’s a flash of yellow reflected in the screen of his terminal; his LED stuttering as he files the scan report under Gavin Reed. Sometimes he forgets it's there. Gavin must notice the quick colour change as his gaze flicks irritably to the android's temple.

"What have I told you about scanning me, prick?" He snaps. The RK900 was never assigned a name like Connor but Reed makes up for it with an array of colourful and imaginative alternatives. 

"No doubt it was something sarcastic, Detective," RK replies coolly. In reality, he knows exactly what he had said about scanning him. He knows when and where the conversation took place and also, the weather forecast for that day.  _ (3 _ _ rd _ _  January 2039, 11:58am, DPD Break Room, light snow). _  He has, after all, the capacity to store over seven billion conversations in his cloud software alone. But he's not going to give Reed the satisfaction of knowing that. He's not sure why. A quick internet search tells him the emotion he is feeling is a form of pettiness. He is being _  petty _ . He smiles involuntarily at that, another impulse, he realises. Maybe he is getting the hang of this after all. 

Gavin makes a face and mutters something under his breath as he turns back to his screen. His heart rate increases by 5.6%.  _ Interesting. _  He takes a sip of his coffee and visibly relaxes, his tongue dipping out to  lick the foamy residue off his top lip, and there’s a spike in the human’s dopamine levels almost immediately. RK wonders what it feels like to experience pleasure from a cup of hot caffeinated liquid. Another human oddity.

Since the break in his code he has witnessed androids everywhere talking about the concept of human emotions. All kinds of feelings, good and bad. Although androids will never experience base human necessities like food or rest, there seems to be a collective fascination with exploring needs and emotions. But most prominently, he finds, they are transfixed with the idea of  _ wanting _ . They want rights, they want freedom, they want safe spaces. All of which is something that RK cannot seem to understand despite his numerous investigations into the subject. The idea of desire is something which eludes him completely. To want something seems entirely reductive beyond what is necessary to exist. Over time, he found he could extend his capacity to want  _ slightly  _ further, as if testing the resistance in an elastic band. For example, he wanted to feel useful, to have a purpose per say. He wanted to work for the DPD and work on the cases.  He wanted to download regular software updates in order to run properly. He wanted...he wanted Gavin Reed to stop drumming his fingers on the desk.  __

He was pulled from his thought process against his own will.

Reed always did this when he was thinking- the Gavin equivalent of a yellow cycling LED. A very annoying _ , very human _  habit. The noise was quiet but ...so invasive when RK had already focused in on it. He tried turning his auditory processor sensitivity down but the movement of the fingers was still there in the corner of his eye. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two-

RK turned to look at him.

His LED must have flashed yellow again because Reed turned abruptly his eyes glued on the android's temple.

"Is there a problem?" He snapped, his fingers momentarily ceasing their incessant drumming, poised in mid-air.

“Do you have to do that?” RK asked flatly. He had learned very early on that it was best to be direct with him.

“Do what?”

“I believe you humans call it fidgeting, a subconscious self-soothing motion, a nervous tic. Take your pick.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gavin hissed, narrowing his eyes. “Jesus Christ I can’t deal with this shit today.” He stood up suddenly, knocking his coffee over so it sloshed over the desk and onto his jeans. Gavin cursed again, digging into the pocket of his leather jacket for his crumpled carton of cigarettes. “Fucking androids.”

He stuck a slightly squashed cigarette in his mouth and stormed off, leaving the coffee to drip sadly off the edges of the desk.

The members of the precinct seemed to collectively hold their breath until Reed had left. His reputation for violent outbursts prevalent amongst all members of staff. RK waited until everyone was sufficiently distracted again to get up and wipe down the desk. He was not a domestic android but his need to feel useful often found him seeking out superfluous objectives. He was nothing if not the height of efficiency.

Instinctively, he dipped two fingers into the viscous liquid pooling on the desk and brought them to the tip of his tongue to sample. A quick analysis of the ingredients cycled past his vision: soy milk, coffee and vanilla syrup (sugar, water, a collection of naturally occurring flavourings, potassium  sorbate  and citric acid).  An interesting combination. RK filed it away in the Gavin Reed folder. It was below skin temperature now so at least the Detective wouldn’t have been burnt. The last thing RK needed was an injured, hostile human to deal with.

In fact, when Reed returned around ten minutes later, he had another significant spike in his dopamine levels accompanied by a haze of tobacco, carbon monoxide and ammonia clinging to his clothes. A nervous habit and also a disgusting one but RK had often seen Reed placated by nicotine where nothing else had worked.  

Reed didn’t comment on the clean desk. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all. He just huffed and sat down in his chair, chewing on his bottom lip as he unlocked his station. Of all the humans RK had met, Reed was the worst. He had accessed Connor’s memories early on in the partnership and seen first-hand the way he treated androids. At their first meeting, Reed had tried to provoke a similar altercation, only to trigger the RK900s military grade defence tactics. That was also consequentially when RK had first experienced the feeling of satisfaction. It had a lot to do with Reed writhing about in pain at his feet.

An alert flashed across the terminal, drawing the android’s attention from across his desk to his own screen. He opened the alert and began to scan the case file that had been sent to him, while Reed groaned across the desk as the notification arrived on his screen at the same time. Today’s case, a homicide, would need immediate attention. 

And that meant a call out. 

 

* * *

 

"Brilliant, fucking brilliant," Reed muttered with a cigarette between his front teeth as he struggled to light the tip. The lighter in his hands sputtered and coughed a tiny flame for a moment but just enough to catch the paper at the end. After a few shaky puffs the red glow spread and he took his first deep inhale. The flood of nicotine didn't quite have the kill or cure effect it had had on him earlier but the relief was still instantaneous. He felt the muscles in his shoulders unknot a little as he blew the smoke out through his nose, the hand holding the cigarette shaking a little. He felt sticky and uncomfortable, his jeans damp and sweet with the smell of vanilla coffee. He grimaced and took another drag, leaning up against the door of his car.

_ Fucking plastic prick. _

How was he supposed to get anything done with that thing staring at him across the desk? Every two minutes its stupid circle thing would light up yellow in his peripheral vision, its cold, dead eyes trained on his face. What could it possibly be processing? Did it have x-ray vision? Was it picking apart the weaknesses in his internal organs? He wouldn’t put it past it. 

When Fowler had announced that he was to be given the model as his partner he'd damn nearly hit the roof. Especially when the plastic asshole itself had assaulted him on its first day. Granted, in hindsight, it was probably a bad move to try and intimidate it like he had with Connor. He'd walked up to it in the break  room, hell bent on getting a reaction out of it. It had regarded him with that cool stare, head cocked to one side as he jabbed his finger into its solid chest. At the moment of contact, however, it had knocked his legs out from under him and he had ended up flat on his back in front of the whole DPD. That bruise had taken a while to heal.

At least Connor had warmed up a bit since going deviant and all. Not-Connor seemed to have some kind of in-built back chat programme and a how-to manual for getting on his last nerve. He couldn't do anything without it having something annoying to say about it. It also seemed to be learning quickly, picking up some of his own more colourful language choices and predicting his behaviour. It was impatient, for an android, and the entirety of its attention, when not on the case at hand, was directed at Gavin. In fact, where it had once regarded him with contempt and disinterest it now seemed actively invested in winding him up. Gavin swore he sometimes caught a flicker of a smirk in those harsh features.

Gavin took another shaky drag. He knew he could be a little bias when it came to the whole android issue but even he could see that a lot of them were at least trying to integrate. Connor in fact, though he was loathed to admit it, had settled into quite a comfortable role as Anderson’s personal lap dog. 

Whereas the RK900 model just didn’t fit in.

Where Connor was soft and kind of goofy looking, the RK900 was all hard edges and piercing, soulless gaze. It was a couple of inches taller, its features sharper and its resting expression a scowl. Despite the fact is was supposedly deviant, it still insisted on dressing like a business model action man.... with the slacks and the turtle neck and the  Cyberlife  issue jacket? It was weird. 

He flicked the tip of the cigarette so the build-up of ash fell to the snow and stuck the remainder of it back in his mouth. God, he had really drawn the short straw on the whole android partner thing. 

As if on cue, the RK900 model barrelled out the back door. Gavin had a moment to blanch over the way it walked towards him, all long legs and purpose, before it fixed him with its cold stare, its face pulled into the usual perpetual frown.

“We should proceed to the crime scene quickly, detective,” it said simply. The way it spoke, as though someone had voice-sampled Connor but dialled the intensity way up, made his whole-body shudder. Although come to think of it, that’s probably exactly what they did do. It was a machine after all. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m almost done,” Gavin drawled, the cigarette still hanging limply in his mouth. 

“I’ve calculated the quickest route for us,” the android began, striding past Gavin to the driver’s side of the car. It got as far as opening the door before Gavin realised what it was doing.

“Hey...hey!” Gavin shouted, the cigarette falling from his lips in his haste to apprehend the android. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

It’s LED spun a full cycle of yellow, then returned to blue, its gaze never leaving Gavin’s.

“Nothing. I am working at the optimum level.”

“It’s  _ my car.” _

“It will be quicker if I drive,” RK900 said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Your vehicle is not equipped with the software required for me to upload-”

“ Nuh  uh, no way, tin-can. Move it,” Gavin huffed, pushing the android aside-  _ jeez, this thing is solid _ \- so he could manoeuvre himself into the driver's seat. The RK900 paused for a fraction of a second, its LED cycling yellow again, before it turned, walked briskly to the passenger door, opened it and sat down on the seat. There was a crunching noise as it crushed several empty food packets and papers under its weight. Gavin shifted uncomfortably and jimmied the seatbelt around to fasten himself in. The god damn nerve of this thing. “Can you even drive?” He added when he had belted himself in, fixing his passenger with an incredulous look.

The RK900 stared straight ahead, its seat belt remained unfastened, its hands folded neatly in its lap. 

“I have the necessary protocols installed, yes.”

Gavin stared at it and tried to imagine any scenario where he would let  _ that  _ get behind the wheel.

“ Cyberlife  really spared no expense with you, did they?” He said after a moment. A weird thought crossed his mind then. “Hey, can y-...you know what never mind.” There were some questions he probably didn’t want to know the answer to.  _ Mind on the job, Reed. _  He flexed his fingers against the steering wheel and sucked in his bottom lip. “So, uh...” shit, he really hadn’t been paying attention this morning, “which way am I going?”

“Proceed North down this road for 800 yards, then take a left.”

“Right, got i t .”

He pulled out, relishing the satisfying crunch of the slushy snow under his tires. He flicked the radio on with is right hand only for the android to immediately switch it off again in a fluid motion.  _ Prick.  _ He was about to protest and switch it back on when RK900 pinned him with one of those looks that made him feel like he’d turned up to work in his pyjamas and not noticed. He turned back to the road instead. 

“Did you read the case file?” It asked in a way which could have been condescending if it wasn’t completely devoid of emotion. 

_ Nope.  _

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

It paused then. Gavin didn’t need to look to see that that LED was certainly cycling a lovely yellow colour right now. 

“Your body language and vital signs suggest that you did not.”

_ Asshole. _

“I had a look, get off my dick.”

That wasn’t a lie. He had skim read it. Taken in the important bits. Okay, not the location, that had obviously slipped his mind.

“I am not on-” the android continued. 

_ Fucking hell. _

“Can you not just shut the fuck up for five minutes, please?” Gavin declared, steering the car off into a labyrinth of side streets. The android did not respond. He chanced a quick glance at the passenger seat and found that it was doing that vacant look thing again, it’s LED a whirring yellow reflected in the glass. It was probably submitting a disciplinary report on him right that second. “Hey, hey! You're not doing that mind report thingy are you?” 

The last thing he needed was more evidence of his short temper stuffed into his ever-expanding file.

“Eyes on the road, detective,” it responded, simply, the ring at its temple changing to a cool blue once more. 

“Jesus Christ,” Gavin swore under his breath and turned away. 

“Pull in over here,” the android said suddenly, causing him to slam his breaks on and swerve up onto the kerb with a  _ thunk. _

Gavin killed the engine and exhaled heavily, his hands still white knuckled on the steering wheel. He unclipped his seat belt and twisted to look at the android,

“Stay in the car. I’ll go in and assess the scene. If I need you, I’ll come get you.”

Simple, clear instructions.

The android didn’t blink or acknowledge his words, it just stared. Gavin swore and climbed out of the car, slamming the door a little harder than strictly necessary. 

The house in question was wrapped in the hologram strips of crime scene tape like a gaudy gift. There were a few officers already on the scene from a local patrol and a gaggle of concerned civilians. From first impressions, a regular crime scene. It took him a second to realise that the RK900 was stood beside him. 

“For fuck’s sake you’re worse than Connor,” Gavin cursed, running his hand through his hair and walking in the direction of the front door. He gave a quick nod to the officers at the front of the civilian throng as he did. The last thing he wanted was for this machine to get in the way or worse, to show him up. 

“Actually,” the android interjected, matching the detective’s pace as they approached the front porch, “Connor was my prototype. I think you’ll find I was designed to be much more efficient than the RK800 model.”

“And twice as annoying.”

RK900 hummed almost in agreement. 

“It is true that less emphasis was placed on  endearing my model to humans.”

“Really?” Gavin stopped abruptly at the front door, giving the android a sideways glance. That explained a lot.

“Yes,  Cyberlife  wanted me to be less... _ appealing _ ...”

Although Gavin couldn’t really call Connor’s twitchy mannerisms and dumb face appealing, he could see why the big brown eyes and the soft jawline were the first things to go. There was nothing warm and cuddly about the RK900.

“Well, they got that right.”

Gavin made to enter the property but a hand on his arm stopped him in his tracks. 

“Does my appearance intimidate you,  detective?”

“What?  No!” Gavin said too quickly, his reflexive response to look away in embarrassment over-ridden by his need to put this prick in its place. He fixed it with what he hoped was a stern stare. “It... it’s …" Why was it so hard to think coherently under that icy glare? “You just look creepy. Okay? Yeah...c _ reepy _ .”

Say it twice because that makes it true. 

He didn’t wait for the android to respond, just pressed on into the house, leaving him on the porch to process the exchange.

_ Him...it...whatever. _

 

* * *

 

For all his flaws Gavin Reed was at least good at his job.

“Okay, what have we got?” the detective clapped his hands at the team inside. 

The officer looked up, her face flickering with mild annoyance before she straightened her features.

“Victim is a 24-year-old female. She was found after a neighbour put in a call that they hadn’t seen her for a few days,” She walked through the living room to the stairwell, gesturing to a member of the forensics team who was bent over a partially decomposed corpse at the bottom of the stairs. “Our team found her here: broken neck, cracked ribs, the works. No sign of forced entry but the neighbour said she had been arguing with her android lover a few nights ago-” she cast a wary look over Reed’s shoulder to where RK was stood- “and that was the last they saw of either of them.”

“Jeez, are people that desperate for company now?” Reed said, grimacing. 

The police officer pursed her lips,

“Apparently .”

Reed followed her gaze to where RK stood and raised his eyebrows at the android as if to say  _ well go on then. _

RK pushed passed Reed to kneel down next to the body. The forensics woman squeaked in surprise but did not move. RK ignored the pop-up scan of her accelerated heart rate, reaching out instead to sample the dried blood on the wall behind the body.  O negative... approximately three days old...belonging to a 24-year-old Lorna Dean. RK pulled up her details from the online database. 

“Any information on this?” Reed called out, holding up a small bag of red power he had just retrieved from behind a book end on a dresser. RK turned his head for a moment to appraise the substance in the detective’s hands. A quick scan confirmed the android’s suspicions. Acetone, lithium,  thirium , toluene, and hydrochloric acid. Red ice. 

The police woman looked up at Reed and shrugged.

“Her ex-boyfriend was a known dealer. He disappeared around the time of the revolution. Word is he’s back on the streets and so is his product.” She walked over to look at the drug and shrugged. “Could be he had something to do with it.”

RK ran a scan of the surrounding area. There was nothing stand out, save for the obvious spattering of blood and a little not visible to the naked human eye. No set of extra prints. No  thirium . No sign of forced entry. In the corner, Reed’s heart rate had increased by 12% and he was rubbing the bag of powder between his thumb and forefinger agitatedly. 

“There isn’t another set of fresh prints anywhere on the crime scene,” RK spoke up, fixing his eyes on Reed. “If he’d been here there would be evidence.”

“What about her android boyfriend?” Reed tossed back, folding his arms across his chest. 

“It's a possibility...” RK straightened up, processing the evidence as he turned back to the corpse. “But the most likely scenario is that she fell.”

“What?”

RK hummed, re-constructing the fall in his head. Yes, there didn’t seem to be any evidence of foul play at all. 

“There’s red ice residue in the victim’s lungs. She was obviously high at the time of death. It’s very plausible she tripped-” he motioned to the top of the stairs- “and fell.”

Reed walked up beside RK and scratched the scar on the bridge of his nose.

“Huh. So, it was an accident?”

“Most likely. We should call the android in for questioning anyway.”

With that RK turned, logging a report back to the DPD to contact the android model in question, before walking out of the house. Reed followed quickly after,

“What about the ex? The dealer?”

“What about him?” RK asked simply, turning to the detective who was fumbling for a cigarette. “It's not our case. He wasn’t directly involved in her death.”

“So, we aren’t even going to pursue it?” Reed asked, pausing when he had the cigarette between his teeth.

“I can send a report over to the drug enforcement department,” RK nodded, LED cycling yellow as he fired off another notification to HQ. Reed scowled as he flicked the flint of his lighter, the flame flickering pathetically in the cold air.

“Can’t you just pull up his file? We could go now-

“ No.”

The answer seemed to catch Reed off guard as he stopped and looked up at RK, his brow furrowed.

“But we’re already here and- “

“We have to go back to the DPD and file this case report.”

“But what if we-”

“No.”

A quick scan revealed Reed’s heart rate had increased again by 5.6% and there was significant tension in his jaw. The hand that held the lighter was taught, his knuckles pressing white against the skin. He rolled the cigarette to the corner of his mouth, his eyes narrowing,

“Don’t fucking start-“

“No.”

Another increase in heart rate.

“You won’t even listen-”

And another.

“Detective, you  need to calm  d-”

“Fuck you!”

When  Cyberlife  made the RK model, they ensured it had access to over ten thousand standard police protocols, unlimited download ability and a programme dedicated entirely to reacting to human unpredictability. It was prided on being the fastest, strongest model  Cyberlife  had ever unveiled. Which is why, when Reed’s fist made contact with the hard-synthetic muscle of RK’s chest plate, the android’s first instinct was to respond in kind. RK was vaguely aware of the flash of his LED turning red in the reflection of Reed’s eye before he slammed the detective up against the wall of the house, one arm twisted against his back, the other pinned at his side.

“What the  _ FUCK  _ are you doing?!” Reed grunted; the air knocked out of him. The detective squirmed under the android’s vice-like grip to no avail.

“Restraining you until you calm  down.”

“Get the fuck off me!”

A scan revealed that aside from a minor abrasion to the cheek caused by contact with the brick work, the human was otherwise unhurt. The rapidly increasing heart rate and body temperature could not be attributed to injury then.

“Not until you calm down.”

“I AM CALM!”

For no reason other than it felt like something he wanted to do, RK tightened his grip on Reed’s arm, leaning into him, so close that he could see the glow of his gold LED cycling against the exposed skin of the human’s neck. 

“Your level of unprofessionalism is outstanding,” he said firmly. “You are being  _ belligerent  _ and I was not designed to be a baby sitter.”

Well, that certainly felt good.

“I am going to kill you.”

“You can  try , detective  but I’m  certain you cant afford the repairs. I’m rather expensive.” 

Reed groaned and sagged a little underneath him which RK took as a sign of defeat. He released his grip, taking a step back to allow Reed to peel himself off the wall. The human braced himself against the wall with one hand, his pupils blown wide as he steadied himself. RK steeled himself in case of another attack but Reed just scrubbed his face with both his hands and looked away.

“You’re an asshole,” Reed said breathlessly, straightening himself up. He walked past the android, body checking him as he spat on the ground.

On the ride home, the detective did not speak, not even to question the route home. RK watched him the whole way, analysing his vital signs to pre-empt any disasters. There was an odd bit of activity in his pre-frontal cortex but nothing to suggest an outburst of rage. In fact, instead of cursing the android out as usual, Reed chewed his lip and occasionally scrubbed the bridge of his nose with his sleeve. If RK weren’t already hyper tuned to the intricacies of the detective’s brain chemistry and physical ticks, he may have missed the subtle changes going on in his body. It seemed almost as though Reed was anxious about something. 

After a few hasty calculations of the detective’s schedule versus the events of the day so far, the android could only theorise that the conflict at the crime scene was the cause of this sudden stress. That was when the first signs had occurred.

But it didn’t make sense. Something was wrong.

They had had arguments before. There had been physical altercations before. 

Nothing had ever caused Reed to act in this way.

So, what had RK done differently? If indeed it had been him at all? 

He could see his LED flashing yellow in the windscreen reflection. On, off, on, off as his artificial brain whirred.

He was confused. He felt like he needed to do something  _ more  _ than just  hypothesize _ , _  to fix something, to make whatever this was go away. 

Whatever was happening inside him was unpleasant, his code flexing in ways that made him feel strange and heavy. He thumbed the edge of his  Cyberlife  issue jacket and tried to pull up some information,  _ anything  _ that would explain the strange sensations he was experiencing in his processors and-

Oh.

There it was. This incongruous, intolerable feeling.

_ Guilt. _

* * *

 

 

Gavin appraised the purple bruise flowering on his cheek in the rear-view mirror of his car.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, prodding his face with his finger.

“It doesn’t look that bad,” Tina said, through a mouthful of bagel, in the passenger seat. 

“Came right out of nowhere,” Gavin grumbled, re-adjusting the mirror. “These fucking deviants still can’t control their emotions.”

“Coming from Gavin Reed who starts fights with pigeons,” Tina laughed. Gavin threw her a filthy look and she brought her hands up defensively. “Hey don’t look at me like that, you and I both know that android wouldn’t have attacked without considerable provocation on your part. ”

“Remind me again why I gave you a lift?”

“Because I bought you breakfast,” she popped the last bit of the bagel in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, “so, what did you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“To make  robo-cop  flip his shit.”

“I err...” Gavin began, chewing his bottom lip. “I wanted to go after this Red Ice dealer. Asked him to pull up the file. No dice... I got mad.”

Tina stopped chewing and sighed. She swallowed, turning to Gavin and fixing him with a look. 

“ The android's not gonna know about your mom, Gavin.”

There it is. That tough love talk. Fifteen years and it still made his gut twist awfully. But she had a point. He’d seen red yesterday, that much was true.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, exhaling heavily as he climbed out of the car. “Still didn’t expect him to fucking choke slam me into a brick wall.”

“You gotta cut him some slack,” Tina continued, getting out and bumping the door shut with her hip.  “He’s had three months to adjust to the full spectrum of human emotion. You’ve had 36 years and you’re still pretty shit.”

“Thanks Chen, you always  know what to say to make me feel better ,” Gavin said sarcastically.

“That’s what I'm here for.”

The two walked into the precinct, Tina heading straight to the break room, Gavin to his desk. Although it struck him as unusual (he was pretty sure the thing lived here) he was quite thankful that the android wasn’t already sat down.  He didn’t have the energy to unpack everything that had happened yesterday; the call-out, the red ice, the way the android had attacked him and the way a traitorous part of himself  had found it kind of hot.  _ Jesus Christ, Reed, _  he chastised himself inwardly. He knew the android was just following whatever weird protocol it had wired into its brain. It didn’t know about his mom. Gavin almost winced at the thought himself. It had been years since the overdose  but it  never really went away. Never really got any easier. The android didn’t know that. It didn’t know Reed’s history; only what was written in his disciplinary folder- that he’d been taken off drug related crimes indefinitely- and that was enough to warrant a hostile response to his behaviour. Gavin knew that what had transpired yesterday was just that: cause and effect. He knew that... but that didn’t mean he had to like it.  He heaved himself into his chair, exhaling deeply as he cracked his knuckles, ready to log into his terminal. For once, he just wanted to get through the day with as little disturbance as possible. 

He could feel eyes on him and jerked his gaze up to find Connor perched awkwardly on the edge of Anderson’s desk, his brow furrowed in an almost convincing display of human concern. The android’s mouth twitched in an approximation of a smile as their eyes met and Gavin raised an eyebrow in response. He definitely preferred it when Connor wasn’t sentient. Behind him, Anderson looked up from his breakfast. Something seemed off.  He remembered the flourishing purple mark on his fucking face and rubbed his cheek self-consciously.

He entered his username and password and drummed his fingers on the desk impatiently as the system booted up. He had a lot of unread emails. Great.

It took him about two minutes of scrolling to realise he wasn’t in the mood for sifting through his inbox. All the words seemed to jumble up in front of him like alphabet spaghetti.  He’d always been shit at reading.  He would reply to them later.  Maybe.

A presence at the opposite side of his desk drew his attention away from his  screen . RK900 was stood across from him. If he didn’t know better, he would have said the android looked...sheepish? Awkward? It was an emotion that looked out of place on him.  If you could call a slight twitch of the features ‘emotion.’

“Detective Reed,” he said, grey eyes darting quickly to Gavin’s cheek and back again as he spoke. The LED flickered yellow for a fraction of a second.

“What do you want?” Gavin said, averting his eyes from the unnerving gaze. 

The RK900 shifted forwards, placing something down on the desk between them. Gavin inwardly groaned and prepared himself for whatever lecture he was about to receive. What had he brought him, his disciplinary file? He chanced a look to his left at the object in question and couldn’t help the way his brow furrowed in confusion when he realised what it was.

“What’s that for?” he asked, suspicion rising in his chest.

The android blinked unnecessarily, a habit Connor too seemed to have picked up post-deviancy, and pushed the object towards Gavin.

It was a cup of coffee. 

“I realise that I may have...upset you yesterday.”

Gavin snorted,

“Is that what you call it? You nearly broke my nose.” 

“I am still finding it difficult to process human emotions. My original coding has proved difficult to override.” The android seemed to be taking great care picking his words. When Gavin did not immediately respond, his eyes flickered to his predecessor who was still watching cautiously from across the bull pen.  Connor smiled reassuringly  back.  “I spoke to Connor; he has mastered his deviancy much better than I have. He says that humans often value actions over words when it comes to...apologising.”

Gavin couldn’t help but l et out a scathing laugh,

“This is you apologising?” He picked up  the cup  and swirled it suspiciously. “Nice try but I’m very particular about my coffee.”

“I know,” RK said simply. “It’s 70% coffee, 20% soy milk and 10% vanilla syrup.”

“You know my coffee order?” Gavin interrupted. Actually, come to think of it, he thought, it did smell like his usual.  Weird.

“I took a sample from the mess you made yesterday,” RK replied, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. 

“That’s creepy as fuck,” Gavin stated bluntly but he was starting to thaw. “Is this your weird way of saying you’re not going to throw me against a wall again?”

The RK900 tilted his head in response, his mouth bordering on something that could have been construed as a smirk. 

“As long as you don’t give me a reason to, detective.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RK pulls some strings at the DPD to get him and Gavin back on a red-ice case. They go undercover. Shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your lovely comments on the last chapter. As promised, here is #2. I hope it's okay!

 

RK pulled up the database of staff contacts. He was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to do this but given the circumstances he wasn't going to let that stop him. It was twenty minutes past the time they were due to meet and he had heard nothing from Reed. The human very rarely answered his phone. Today was no exception. 

He gave one last attempt to call, his LED fluttering gold in the reflection of the black screen in front of him as he listened to the call ring out. No answer.  

RK pushed himself up from his chair and headed out the building. He would just have to find him himself. He called a cab and loitered outside the precinct while the driverless automobile arrived. He spoke Reed’s address upon entering and the vehicle began its journey. 

Reed lived in an apartment complex not too far away, converted warehouse flats. As RK climbed out of the vehicle he was struck by the juxtaposition of old Detroit with the newer, technological advances obvious in the security scanners upon entry. It was a pleasant enough place to live, surprisingly suburban. It was like everything else about Reed: unpredictable. 

As he climbed the black iron stair case to the second-floor apartments the security drone hovers nearby, obviously scanning him. He hadn’t seen any anti-android signs at the gate but he wouldn’t put it past Reed to live somewhere that specifically didn’t allow them. Despite their working relationship becoming more amicable over the past few months, RK was very aware of the detective’s dislike for his kind. He hoped he was at least doing enough to change that somewhat. 

He double-checked the address then made his way up to the door and knocked twice, briskly. Then he waited. After two minutes he knocked again. He heard a commotion from inside, something that sounded like a thud, before the door swung open. Immediately he was hit with an onslaught of sensory information he was not prepared for. There was an overwhelming wall of smell, a waft of cooking, the usual stale scent of tobacco and something damp yet unusually fragrant. Reed was half dressed in just his jeans, slung low on his hips. His hair was wet and slicked back, a cigarette lolling in the corner of his mouth.  

RK was staring despite himself. He had not seen many humans undressed save for a few corpses, advertisements for underwear and stock photos. Seeing a living, tangible human body was another thing completely; it was so different to the text book assemblage of parts he had studied. Reed was a map of scar tissue, freckles and tattoos. His body looked strong, like it had earned the muscles beneath it, rather than the calibrated strength of an android’s. RK followed the route of every scar wondering how they had come to be, thinking about the processes of membrane knitting together to form hardened tissue. They wove an intricate path between the ink of his tattoos and the lines of the lean muscle beneath the skin. He had the sudden urge to reach out and press the flat of his sensory heavy tongue to the markings, wanting to taste the skin there, to process all the unique information he might find. It was an odd thought, one he filed away frantically as he tried to clear his vision of the system instability warnings that flashed up at the sudden spike in his core temperature. 

"What are you doing here tin-can?" Reed said around his cigarette, the nickname no longer an insult, more of a habit. Dare he say an endearment? That was probably a stretch.  

RK’s interface stuttered as he struggled to regain control of his processors. He is certain his LED is flickering with the way Gavin smirks and rolls the cigarette to the corner of his mouth. He smoothed his face into a veneer of calm and simply cleared his throat, 

"You're late." 

"Am I?" Reed scrunched his nose and pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket to look at the time. "Oh, yeah shit, I am. Sorry. I err…. come in....” Reed stepped backwards to allow RK entry. “How'd you know where I live?" 

"I hacked the DPD staff database,” RK says coolly, taking in the sight of the human’s apartment. It is so unashamedly Gavin he almost smiles. It’s cluttered and untidy; piles of faded comic books and knick-knacks, a few empty beer bottles and some discarded socks litter the floor. The whole space is bathed in a kind of homely glow though, owing to the fact the crimson curtains are drawn across the windows, filtering the light so it comes through rosy. There’s a black cat sprawled lazily on the sofa; it opens one eye to appraise the android as he enters but does not rise.  

“Sorry, what?” Reed said but then shook his head. “Actually, you know what, I didn’t hear that.” He started towards the bedroom door before doubling back to pick up some lonely socks off the carpet. “Give me five minutes, I need to finish getting dressed. Speaking of…is that what you're wearing?" He gestured to the android’s clothing, smirking as he plucked the end of the cigarette out of his mouth and stubbed it out on the kitchen counter.  

"This is what I always wear,” RK said quickly. It was true, he was wearing his Cyberlife issue jacket with the black turtle neck and slacks. Reed saw him every single day, he should know this. “I don't own any other clothes." 

"What?!"  

"I don't perspire and these clothes don't wear out." 

"Yeah, but you look like a dork,” Reed laughed, ducking into his bedroom to retrieve his clothes. RK tugged at the collar of his jacket uncomfortably. Perhaps he should take it off? 

"I don't know what you mean." 

"Wait there,” Reed called from the other room. “I don’t know if I've got anything that would fit you, you're like…fuck..." 

RK waited a little impatiently for Reed to return. When he did he was fully clothed, a dark wash t-shirt to match his jeans and the socks he’d picked up from the floor. He was carrying a small bundle in his hands which he launched at RK when he rounded the corner. The android caught it as Reed spoke, 

"Here take this, it might fit." 

It was a t-shirt, a kind of faded blue-grey colour. 

"Thank you." 

RK pulled his Cyberlife issue turtle neck over his head, folded it neatly and placed it on the edge of the sofa. The cat looked up at the new addition to the upholstery and its ears twitch in his direction. He cautiously pulled the new item of clothing on over his head, engulfed immediately in the same kind of ‘Gavin smell’ that the whole apartment had. It's kind of nice. He bats a few error notifications from his view. When he resurfaces, he pulls at the hemline, it’s a little tight but not uncomfortable. He looks to Reed for some kind of approval that he fits the part better now. Gavin’s face is a little slack and his eyes are kind of unfocused. He jerks his head a tiny bit and clears his throat, 

"You can keep it err...it suits you." 

He doesn’t look at RK again for a while, instead busying himself with unlacing and re-lacing his boots. His movements are a little jerky and uncoordinated. RK wonders if he’s done something wrong again. 

“Are we taking your car?” RK asks when Reed pulls on his leather jacket. He makes a face in response as he digs his hands in his pockets for his cigarettes. 

“I was gonna call a cab, not often I get to drink on the job.” 

RK rolls his eyes without thinking as Reed opens the door. 

“I could drive?” He offers. 

“Sure, whatever,” Reed says, tossing the keys over his shoulder. 

RK catches them and hurries after the human.  

When they’re sat in the car Reed fidgets in the passenger seat, rubbing his thumb over the denim of his jeans and clenching and unclenching his jaw. RK runs a routine scan and finds both his heart rate and body temperature are slightly heightened.  

“Is everything alright, detective?” 

“I err…never asked how you got us on this case. I dunno what strings you pulled. Fowler never…I didn’t- “he chews his lip. “What I mean is thanks. I guess” 

RK smiled at that. He briefly wondered about teasing him but Reed’s good moods were infrequent and short-lived. He didn’t want to waste this one. In truth it had taken very little convincing on his part. Fowler had seen the improvement in both Gavin's behaviour and work ethic since they’d partnered up albeit slowly at first. He was willing to give RK the benefit of the doubt in this matter. And RK thought it might help Gavin to channel some of his chaotic energy into cases he was passionate about. He didn’t say any of this though, simply nodded. 

“You’re welcome.” 

He pulls up about a block away from the club and Reed slinks out, a cigarette already between his teeth. He leans against the car door and lights up as RK scans him and watches the explosion of brain activity from the nicotine in real time. It’s dark and the streetlights cast a strange, soft glow on Reed’s face which when paired with the spark of the cigarette make him look much younger than he is, despite the android’s exceptional vision. It’s like a snapshot from a supercut of Reed’s life before he knew him. Before the revolution. Before the DPD maybe. But then he turns and the light illuminates the scars on his face and the shadows under his eyes and he exhales heavily, grinning, 

“Are you ready?” He asks, his tone laced with something RK struggles to process.  

The android nods.  

 

* * *

 

 

The club is a vision of tacky sunset filtered lights and pounding bass-line heavy music. Not Gavin’s scene at all. Jesus, was he the oldest guy here? He weaved through the heaving dance floor, making a bee-line for the bar. RK followed, gripping tightly to his forearm in a way that made Gavin’s palms itch. When they got to the bar, Gavin ordered a drink for himself then frowned and turned to the android, 

“Can you drink?” Gavin shouted over the music. The corner of RK’s mouth twitched, an approximation of a smile, before he leaned in so Gavin could hear him. 

“I can in the sense I can consume a drink to analyse the components but it would be pointless seeing as I don’t feel thirst and I can’t get drunk.” 

Wow, what a buzz kill. Gavin shrugged and paid the bartender. He knocked back his drink and sighed as he felt the alcohol burn his throat like a three-day old bruise. He turned to the android who leaned in instinctively, 

“Can you see anything?” 

RK shook his head. 

“My ocular processors are having trouble adjusting to the lights in here.” 

“Performance anxiety,” Gavin snickered, turning and ordering another drink from the bartender. “Happens to the best of us.” 

“Should you really be drinking?” RK said, his LED spinning gold as Gavin knocked back a second. “I don’t want to have to carry you out of here if things go badly.” 

“Okay, Dad,” Gavin laughed and patted the other’s arm. “Last one until we get ‘em. I promise.”  

They lingered at the bar, drifting in and out of conversation for around forty-five minutes with no sign of the suspects. Gavin felt the tell-tale rush of blood to his cheeks within the first few minutes, the giddy weightlessness of alcohol enough to make him feel relaxed. He didn’t appreciate the fact his body responded to the way the android leant in to his side to speak to him over the music. He felt himself flushing as RK lightly gripped his upper arm, their proximity suddenly glaringly obvious. Gavin had always been fascinated with the way androids felt warm. All those wires, pump regulators and shit were bound to give off heat but the incongruity of it all still made his head spin. Right now, he felt that he himself might over heat if RK kept pressing his body up against his like that. Probably shouldn’t have had those drinks. He let his partner know he was going to scope out the dance floor and slunk out from their place at the bar. He made his way across the club, dodging some slightly drunker dancers, to search for the man in question. He had made a point of reading the file before RK arrived at his apartment, just to show he was willing to cooperate with these new cases. He knew what he was looking for; tall, approximately 6’0, Caucasian male, scar over the left eyebrow. Typical drug lord thug. 

But the sea of patrons did not offer anyone that looked like the man on the cover of the folder he’d perused just hours before. He reached the other side without so much as a double take in anyone’s direction. So as not to arouse suspicion, he ducked into the bathroom to take a piss.  

As far as club toilets go, these were not the fanciest. There was graffiti everywhere and some of the cubicles didn’t have doors. Gavin grimaced as he relieved himself into the chipped urinal and cast his eyes over some of the more aggressive anti-android slogans emblazoned in sharpie on the wall in front of him. There had been a time, not so long ago now, that those words would have easily fallen from his own mouth. The thought made him a little uncomfortable. He hated to admit it but having RK as a partner had changed a lot of things about him. The android was constantly checking his vitals, informing him of deficiencies in his diet, bringing him coffee when he was tired. Sure, it could get annoying, but he slept better, ate better, fuck it, he even felt better in himself. RK told jokes now and then too, sometimes something so deadpan and dry he wondered if he was starting to rub off on him. They were...friends. And that was something he never thought he’d say. 

He sighed, zipping his jeans up and turned to leave. As he did, the door swung open and he came face to face with the man on the cover of his file, eyebrow scar and all. The man barged past, followed by another taller guy with a beard. Hired muscle, perhaps. Shit. Gavin licked his lips and slid through the door and back into the club to find RK, heart hammering.  

The android was still at the bar. He looked over at Gavin as he approached his face pulled into something unreadable. He was holding a drink in his right hand. 

“Change your mind?” Gavin said, one eyebrow raised, gesturing to the glass. The android turned so that his body was caging Gavin against the bar again and lowered his head to speak into his ear, 

“Someone bought it for me, do you want it?” 

“Who?!” Gavin said almost too quickly. He didn’t want to read into why that made him feel weird.  

“Her,” RK cocked his head in the direction of the opposite end of the bar. A woman with smoky eyes and a wide, glossy mouth was looking over, her face pinched in an expression of contempt. It was only then that Gavin realised her gaze was resting on him and not RK. “I told her I was with you.” 

“Why’d you say that?!” Gavin asked incredulously. 

“Well, I am, aren’t I?” RK asked, his expression confused. Gavin rolled his eyes and took the drink from RK’s fingers. He wasn’t about to explain the subtleties of dating-lingo to an android. 

“This isn’t spiked, right?” He lifted the glass to his nose, suspiciously. “I’m not going to get murdered by some android fucker, am I?” 

RK’s LED flashed yellow for a split second, his brows knitting together as he looked at the drink in Gavin’s hand. If Gavin wasn’t tipsy, he would have sworn the android almost looked a little pissed off. But then again, didn’t he always?  

“No, it’s not,” his eyes flickered to Gavin as he responded by knocking back his third drink of the evening. “Besides, you can’t spike an android.” 

“Whatever,” Gavin said, licking the residual alcohol off his chin. “I saw our guy in the bathroom.” 

Another full cycle of yellow to blue and RK nodded, his eyes trained on the bathroom door on the other side of the club. 

“We should move closer.” 

“No,” Gavin said thoughtfully, leaning back on the bar. "I expect they’ll be meeting in the VIP area.” 

“Then we should go.” 

The VIP area was on a raised platform in the corner, full of plush white leather sofas and hidden behind a misty, gauze encrusted with tiny crystals. Tacky, Gavin thought, as they made their way across the dance floor. They stopped just at the edge of the throng of people dancing and leaned up against the wall. From here, they could see the cordoned off area and RK could zone in on their conversation. It took the man around ten minutes to gather the rest of his companions and for them to settle down on one of the sofas at the rear of the space. They all looked so stereotypical of the kind of people they usually brought in on a case like this. It was too easy. 

Gavin leant back against the wall and RK settled himself parallel to him, mirroring his body. When the android leaned over to speak, hand braced against the space by his head, Gavin felt himself swallow audibly. 

“They’re talking about the deal,” RK said, next to Gavin’s ear. His LED was flashing alarmingly fast. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m adjusting my auditory processors so that I can hear what they’re saying…” His lips twitched as he looked back to the VIP area. “Your heart beat is quite loud.” 

Gavin suddenly became hyper aware of his own pulse thrumming in his ears. He twisted uncomfortably to look up at RK, trying desperately not to breathe in a way that would be deemed too loud. From this angle he could see the long column of the android’s throat, from the tip of his chin, right down to where the skin disappeared beneath his borrowed shirt. Gavin had never seen him out of that fucking turtle neck and now he couldn’t stop staring at the expanse of skin before him. He was hyper aware of the hand at the side of his head and the way RK leaned into him so he could hear what he was saying. He felt…small. He was average height but for some reason Cyberlife had built their RK models a good few inches taller than the general population. Gavin decided he didn’t hate it.  

“Shit.” 

The curse brought Gavin’s attention up to the android’s face. RK snapped his gaze down almost immediately, 

“What’s wrong?” Gavin asked, leaning up to meet his eyes. 

“They’re suspicious.” 

“What?” Gavin hissed. 

“Act natural,” RK responded, relaxing his posture a little. 

“Says you! You’ve been staring at them for the past ten minutes!” 

“I thought I was being flirtatious.” 

Gavin would have laughed had it not been for the fact this could have blown their cover. His heart was suddenly hammering, no doubt deafening the android but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He tried to look nonchalant as he hissed between his gritted teeth, 

“What the fuck are we going to do?” 

“I don’t know, as the human, I would have thought you might have a better idea,” RK responded calmly, his grey eyes trained on Gavin.  

“We could leave.” 

“No, too obvious,” RK said bluntly. Gavin balled his fists and tried to angle himself so he could see. 

“What about-“ 

“They’re sending someone over.” 

“Fuck!” 

Gavin could see the taller man, the one with the beard, squaring up to walk over out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t like their chances of making it out of here in one piece if he felt they were acting suspiciously. He had to think fast. He groaned inwardly. The noise made RK tilt his head to look at him. His LED was flickering yellow but there was no time to process why. Gavin did the first thing he could think to do, and fuck if he knew where it came from; he grabbed the back of the android’s neck and tugged him down, into a clumsy kiss.  

RK’s mouth felt weird. It had less give than a human’s and almost no taste to it. The android seemed to freeze in place and Gavin worried for a brief moment if he might be about to go all robo-cop on him again. But then his hands found Gavin’s hips and he pushed him against the wall, a different kind of forceful, his head tilting a little to accommodate the height difference. The androids thigh slips between his legs effectively pinning him in place and he can feel the sweet pressure pooling in his lower abdomen as leans into it. Gavin felt more-so than heard a tiny hum of satisfaction in the back of RK’s throat which went straight to his dick and he fisted his hand in his surprisingly soft hair. Once again, Gavin was hit by how odd it was to feel the solid mass of RK with the unusual warmth radiating from beneath his clothes. He wonders briefly if RK has ever kissed anyone else before. His grip on his hips is so tight he’s sure he will be bruised tomorrow but right then RK slips his strangely textured tongue into Gavin’s mouth and suddenly he doesn’t care. Instead he makes a sound he is definitely not fucking proud of and arches into the android’s touch as his hands snake under the back of his t-shirt to his bare skin and  _f_ _uck_ - 

Gavin pulls away, putting his hands flush against RK’s chest to ground him, 

“Did they- where is he?” 

RK stares at him and shit his LED is  _red_  and he’s stuttering these breaths that he doesn’t even need to take and… 

“He left,” RK says suddenly. “I think we were…convincing.” 

Gavin takes in the way his LED swirls to the cool blue and with it his face smooths into its usual emotionless pre-set. His hair is still dishevelled where Gavin’s hands had run through it- 

He has to scrub at his face with both hands. 

“Right, yeah. And the boss guy?” 

“They’ve gone out the back. I doubt we’ll get anything more from them tonight.” 

“Shit.” 

Gavin forces his way through the crowd, not even bothering to look to see if RK is following. His hand is already jammed in his jeans pocket, sifting around for his cigarettes, and trying to alleviate some of the discomfort caused by the fact that he was definitely half hard and is still very confused. His cheeks are on fire and he’s convinced RK is scanning his vital signs right now and wondering what the fuck is going on. 

The night air has the same effect as a cold shower would and he sticks a cigarette between his teeth as he sighs in relief at being out of that fucking place. He vaguely hears RK come outside behind him but he’s too busy flicking the flint of his lighter to pay too much attention. The first, desperate drag of the cigarette is so sweet his knees almost buckle. God, are they gonna have to talk about this? 

“I picked up some valuable intel before we were spotted,” RK says from somewhere behind him. “We can definitely use some of it to further the investigation.” 

Gavin exhales, the smoke pluming in the cool night air in front of him. 

“Good. Not a total waste of time then.” 

Gavin started walking forward, his feet moving of their own accord. He wanted to get the fuck out of here. This club. This situation. Everything. 

“Your heart rate is elevated, detective.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“Your core temperature is also-“ 

“I said I’m fine,” Gavin snapped. Jesus Christ, why was this android so far up his ass all the time?  

RK stared for a moment then nodded, his gaze dropping to the floor. 

“I will drive you home then.” 

 

* * *

 

RK set the route to Gavin’s apartment up to run in the background so he could steer on autopilot. Which left him to process the events of the evening as best he could. He played and replayed the kiss over and over in his vision while his hands and feet methodically steered the car. Every rewind set his core temperature rising, his display littered with system instability warnings and alerts. He had once again been overloaded with sensory information; the smell of cigarettes, traces of whiskey and toothpaste on his tongue, the texture of his face, his hair, the skin of his hips. So very human. It was maddening. Exactly too much and not enough all at once. He had pushed back, taken too much and then-  

“Care to share with the class, Nines?” 

“What?” RK snapped, abruptly pulled back to reality by Reed’s voice in the passenger seat. He was suddenly aware of the way his hands gripped the steering wheel a little too tightly and he forced the joints in his fingers to relax. Reed’s eyes darted from the wheel to his face and back again before he tapped his own temple. 

“Your night light thing is going a mile a minute,” he laughed nervously. RK blinked unnecessarily at him. “And can you at least pretend to look at the road? Jesus.” 

RK swerved gratuitously across the empty road to prove a point before turning back to look ahead. He was silent for a second, re-playing the words that left Reed’s mouth a second before. 

“What did you just call me?”  

“What?”  

“You called me Nines,” RK said slowly. 

“Huh,” Reed huffed, “so I did.” 

“Why?” 

“Would you prefer me to go back to calling you plastic prick?” Reed threw back, annoyance fluttering in his voice as he gazed out of the window, his profile flickering in and out of view as the street lights passed. 

“No, I just- “ 

“It’s a nickname, right?” Gavin said, turning to look at the android. “Don’t over-analyse it. It’s easier than calling you RK-nine-whatever.” 

“RK900.” 

He’s never had a nickname before. In fact he’s never had a name before. Only the designation he was given by Cyberlife.  

Nines. 

He knows what it is, it’s some kind of bastardisation of his model number. He enlisted the help of the internet for this one. Unsure of the protocol. 

 **nickname. noun [ C ]** **uk** **/ˈ** **nɪk.neɪm** **/ us /ˈ** **nɪk.neɪm** **/ an informal name for someone or something, especially a name that you are called by your friends or family, usually based on your real name or your character.**  

Oh. 

 _Friends._  

“Yeah, it’s a mouthful.” Gavin was quiet for a moment and RK resisted the urge to scan him. “And Cyberlife didn’t give you a proper name so…” Reed tailed off as RK pulled up outside his apartment. The android killed the engine and flexed his fingers on the steering wheel. 

Gavin did not wait and tumbled out of the side of the car, one hand fumbling for his cigarettes, the other grasping the car door, ready to slam it shut. RK followed suit, leaning against the car door after he closed it so he could watch Gavin carefully. The human was behaving oddly again. RK found himself staring at the way his calloused fingers gently held the cigarette, the guttering glow from the lighter casting strange shadows across his face. His core temperature was elevated and there was a bead of sweat forming at his temple. RK’s tongue suddenly felt heavy in his mouth, his sensors alert and uncomfortable. He felt strange, his hands automatically tensing at his sides as he watched the detective put the cigarette tip to his lips. 

“I’m going to call a taxi now,” RK blurted out a little too loudly. He flinched, dialling down his vocal processor. Gavin looked up from his cigarette and exhaled through his nose, 

“You can stay if you want.” 

“I…” 

“You can just do whatever androids do at night here. I’ll drive us to work in the morning,” Gavin said, waving his cigarette in the air noncommittally. “Or not, do what you want, whatever.”  

RK stared at Gavin.  

“Okay.” 

He wasn’t sure why he said yes.  

When Gavin had finished his cigarette, he followed him up the stairs to the apartment. He sat down awkwardly on the sofa and watched as Gavin stooped to get himself a beer out of the fridge, his profile illuminated by the artificial light. Despite himself, he calculated the curve of his spine, the way the droplets of condensation ran down his fingers, the creak of the sofa springs and the depression of the cushions as his weight sunk down next to him.  

“Fuck man, what a night,” Gavin groaned, pressing the cool glass of the bottle against his forehead. RK said nothing, his internal processor whirring as he watched Gavin’s eyes flutter shut. He noticed his own fingertips worrying the fabric of his borrowed shirt and tensed, halting the subconscious action.  He flexed the artificial tendons in his hand until his palms lay flat against his thighs. He wondered when his system started running such human-like background processes. Gavin exhaled audibly next to him and opened his eyes. “So, do you like...sleep at work?” 

“I enter stasis, a dormant mode where I can perform necessary system updates and minor repairs. I don’t require sleep so it doesn’t really matter where I do it. The DPD is as good a place as anywhere.” 

“Huh,” Gavin said, taking another swig of his beer. “But you could get an apartment, you could live wherever you want, do whatever you want?” 

“I could,” RK said simply.  

“Don’t you want to y’know, take your deviancy out for a spin?” He’s smirking, RK can hear it in his tone of voice without looking at him. That sharp, smart mouth quirked at the corners.  He paused to process the question. 

“I don’t know what I want.” 

Gavin stared at him then; his brow furrowed as he unlaced the subtext RK had unwittingly woven into that admission. There was another pause, the silence filled only by the gentle pulse of RK’s thirium pump regulator working overtime inside him. He was sure Gavin’s human ears wouldn’t pick up such a subtle sound but he felt embarrassed anyway; as if his synthetic skin had peeled back of its own accord to expose his white casing. He felt vulnerable. It was... unpleasant. 

Finally, Gavin gave a short laugh around the rim bottle.  

“That’s not an android thing,” he licked his lips, the beer sloshing in the bottle as he rested his arm on the back of the sofa. “That’s an everyone thing.” 

“It is?” 

“Yeah, no one knows what they want, it’s part of being human.” 

 _Human._  

RK has files within files within systems to explain to him what that means and he’s still coming up blank. He looks at Gavin; half slumped in the corner of the sofa, his bottle almost empty, blood alcohol at 0.12%. His eyes are misty and red-rimmed and he’s chewing on his lip again like he does when he’s reading case-files.  

“It seems like the system is fundamentally flawed.” 

“Damn right,” Gavin agrees, knocking back what’s left in his bottle before leaning forwards and placing it on the coffee table.  

“Sometimes, I think it would have been easier if I had remained a machine. To never have felt...to never have felt anything.” RK is sure that his LED is spinning yellow if not red, his visual processor glitching with error messages as he tries to unpick what’s going on inside him. He knows Gavin is looking at him, he feels those vacant, grey eyes on him like they’re burning. Perhaps they are because his internal core temperature is increasing. “I never had the choice, I never got to choose to be like this. How do you deal with it? How long does it take to-” His hands automatically ball into fists on his thighs and he clears the alerts from his vision, overriding the need to reset, straining to grasp at what it is he’s feeling. He exhales unnecessarily and soothes his features into their neutral state. “I’m sorry, detective. I should...” 

Gavin scrubbed his face with his hands and sighed, sitting upright.  

“It gets easier. Feelings and shit. I don’t know when but-”  

He did something then which made RK’s system stutter and placed his hand on RK’s knee. He felt it first, the impossibly hot feel of his skin against the knee of his trousers. Even through the fabric it was searing. It was strange, the contact between them, to be anything but hostile. It was awkward and clumsy, not quite strong enough to be a grip, but very much  _there._ He looked down at the detective’s hand, lying inches from his own. Mirror images and yet indisputably different; a network of sinew and blood and bone and then his own too perfect, too neat, too much. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth again, the sensors struck like matches by the sight of this all new sensory data. He watched almost helplessly as he shifted his own hand without thinking so their skin brushed together, the real and the synthetic, sliding gently against one another. He chanced a look out the corner of his eye at the human, who seemed frozen in place by the movement. RK couldn’t help but analyse him; an increase in heart rate, the rising temperature, the spreading rush of blood to his cheeks. Gavin’s gaze flickered to the android’s temple, then back to his face, then lower. RK could feel the thirium pumping around his body so fast he thought he might shut down trying to keep up.  

Then Gavin flinched. A pained look crossed his face and he snatched his hand away as though the android’s skin was blisteringly hot. He held his hands in his lap for a moment, his breathing ragged in the prolonged silence. Then he stood, clumsily, his movements addled by alcohol and fatigue. 

“I’m gonna um...” he scratched the back of his neck while he sucked in his bottom lip. “If you need anything...yeah...” There was a moment where they both just stared at each other before Gavin turned and went to the bedroom. He tossed a nonchalant ‘g’night’ over his shoulder as he flicked the light switch off. 

RK flexed the hand on his knee, releasing the coiled tension from each finger one by one. He blinked unnecessarily murmured, 

“Good night, detective.” 

And he was alone. 

He didn't know what to do.  

He sat on the couch, palms pressed into the material of the seat cushions, the room around him illuminated only by the gold pulsing of his LED. Twice in the space of one evening his systems had all but shut down in response to the detective's touch. He replayed the moment in his mind again, over and over, replicating the hot feel of his skin on the sensors of his hand. And the kiss. He'd never understood the human fascination with physical intimacy. He'd thought it was crass, a little disgusting actually and entirely unnecessary. A? distraction, certainly. But now? Now that he had the intimate data analysis of the inside of Gavin's mouth? Well, he wanted more. Wanted to lick into his mouth, taste his teeth, his soft palate, the inside of his cheek. He thought about the way he'd looked earlier in the evening, half undressed, damp from the shower, a cloud of perfumed vapour from his shower gel. His vision glitched, a crackle of colour and a warning as his interior cooling system kicked in, fans whirring as his temperature rose.  

To think he was a room away, lying twisted in his sheets, possibly undressed, exposed, all scars and muscle, sleepy and vulnerable. He wanted to run his tongue down the knots in his spine, taste the flesh between his shoulders, at the nape of his neck, behind his ear. Knew he never could. That the detective would be sick if he knew. Repulsed by the idea of RK looking at him let alone touching him.  

And yet hadn't he shown signs of arousal too after their kiss? The dilated pupils, the flushed skin, the spike in his vitals? It was too much to hope that it was in response to RKs touch. More so the act itself. Not the participant.  Surely. 

And yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soft boys. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin has a r e a l i s a t i o n

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posts smut and runs away quickly.
> 
> In all seriousness though, your comments have absolutely made my day(s) over and over again. Thank you.
> 
> I hope this is worth the wait.

Gavin’s not sure when they settle into this comfortable routine but suddenly it's been eight months and he can't believe there was ever a time that RK wasn't in his life. It must have happened slowly, slow enough that he didn't notice his resolve crumbling. All of a sudden, they're inseparable, working symbiotically like two parts of a complex whole, closing cases faster than any other team- even Anderson and Connor. He's never gone so long without a disciplinary before and again, he's not sure when he stopped wanting to spit bile at anyone who came within a foot of his desk. People at the precinct talk to him again, they invite him out after work, and fuck it's been years since he felt included. It's weird that his life suddenly involves something other than his job, the gym and the occasional drink with Tina. RK comes over every few days, they hang out and watch movies together. The android protests at first because he has access to all the Wikipedia plot summaries but Gavin has convinced him that it's not the same. God, he's actually _funny_  sometimes.  

And there's only a small part of him that's bitter. Because every time RK does something so unmistakably kind, like bringing him coffee or organising his paper work, he's reminded of how much he doesn't deserve this. And every time he catches him staring on a stakeout, at 2am when it's as cold in the car as it is outside, he's hit with the overwhelming memory of the heat of that kiss all those months ago.  

And his shitty brain tricks him into thinking that actually maybe RK glances at him a little too often. That he lingers a fraction too long when their fingers brush passing case files across the desk. That his insistence on spending time with him outside of work is born out of more than just deviant curiosity.  

Which is stupid, right? Because RK is a state of the art military grade android. He's the best thing to come out of Cyberlife; he has a brain capable of unravelling the most complex cases in seconds, that can pre-construct a timeline of events with ease, all encased in a body that was quite literally designed by artists and engineers alike that will never succumb to fatigue or illness. He's perfect and with the new android civil rights laws, he could literally do whatever he wanted. Gavin's not stupid; he knows RK's been swamped with job offers from everything from the FBI to overseas military programmes. He has the world at his feet.  

And Gavin has proven over and over again that he's not worthy. Because he's been cruel and he's been impulsive and he's been stupid. He's a patch work of bad choices and damage and regret. He's had enough people tell him, from family to jaded exes, what he's worth. Fuck, he's lucky that RK even gives him the time of day let alone his friendship. He daren’t hope for more.  

Not that Gavin's _thought_ about it at all.  

He hasn't.  

That would be beyond stupid. 

But he knows deep down, when he wakes up from dreams, hands pressed feverishly into the sheets beneath him that there's a selfish part of him that wants to fuck everything up. To breach the unspeakable space between them when they sit in silence, knees not quite touching, watching TV on Gavin's old couch.  

But it's okay. 

No, really it is.  

It's been so long since Gavin's been even close to happy that he'll never let this unspoken shame come between them. Won't besmirch RK in that way, because he's already held to such an impossible standard by everyone around him, that Gavin daren't ask anything more. Even thinking about him too much makes him feel like he's smearing him with 36 years of accumulated human filth and baggage. And RK is so much better than him in every way. 

Sometimes he relents... just a little...he pries, asking him if he's seen any hot android, women at the precinct or whatever he does when he's not at Gavin's. He knows he shouldn't, knows it's really none of his business but he does it anyway. And he waits, breath held painfully in his throat as RK's LED tells him he's thinking about it. Yellow, yellow, blue. And then he just blinks and smiles and says he's not really interested.  

And Gavin's fine with that. They can stay like this. He can keep it going.  

 

Or so he thinks. 

 

They’re on a raid when it happens. 

RK steps in front of him and he doesn’t see the bullet go in. 

He doesn’t see the bullet go in but he hears it. 

He hears the shot as the man pulls the trigger. He hears the crack as RK’s chest plate splinters under the force. He hears the wet splatter of blue blood on the pavement.  

He hears the roar in his ears because the bullet  _doesn’t go through him_  and RK falls heavily to his knees with a dense, artificial sound. 

There’s a commotion as the other officers close in on the shooter but Gavin is paralysed. It’s as though the bullet hit him instead, right through the chest, stealing his breath from his lungs in a hot, biting kick to the rib-cage.   

RK’s head is lolling forwards, his left hand desperately grasping for purchase on the gritty floor. It’s the sight of his fingers, wet with thirium, that prompts Gavin’s muscles to move. He manages to catch the android before he falls, laying him across his lap as best he can with shaking hands. 

Blue blood soaks his shirt and it’s hot and wet and there’s so much of it.  

“Gavin,” RK says but his voice is full of static, like there’s interference in his system and his eyes don’t focus on him. Gavin realises with a sick feeling that there’s probably a broken connection somewhere. The android's eyes rove over his face and he blinks rapidly. “You need to calm down, your heart is beating way too fast and your-” 

“How are you still scanning me- you've just been shot!” Gavin manages to choke out, his eyes trained on the way RK’s chest plate has fragmented into pieces, the synthetic skin pulled back around the bullet hole exposing the harsh, white casing. It looks a little too much like bone.  

“It’s not hit any vital biocomponents,” RK states like he’s reading the words off a teleprompter. “I am able to run at 58% efficiency. I’ll be fine.” 

“Fine?! You’ve got a fucking hole in your chest.” Gavin brings his hand up to touch the android’s face, smearing blue fingerprints across the artificial skin of his cheek. “We need to get you to a hospital, fuck.” 

RK actually laughs at that, crackling and glitchy and god, if it isn’t the most bitter sweet sound Gavin’s ever heard. 

“What are they going to do with an android?” He smirks, his lips stained blue.  

“We have to do something,” Gavin stutters, “you’re the super computer; tell me what to do!” 

“Drive me to Cyberlife in the morning, they’ll remove the bullet and replace any damaged wiring.” 

“I am not waiting until morning, there’s a hole in your fucking chest.” He’s trying not to look at it because it’s freaking him out. He wants to cover it up. Can you bandage an android? He doesn’t even know but it would make him feel better to do it. “Can you stand?” 

“Probably,” RK says. Gavin nods and helps him to his feet. He looks better now he’s vertical, he thinks. Less like a broken store mannequin; more like himself. “I could probably use some thirium.” 

Gavin looks over where the other officers have pacified the shooter; he’s on his knees. Their job here is as good as done.  

They’d fallen into this routine some time over the last month where RK would stay at Gavin’s and he’d drive them both to work. It wasn’t like he’d moved in or anything. He didn’t have any stuff just had his android-y supplies: thirium, a charging port, his one set of clothes.  

“What about the bullet?” Gavin asks, chewing on his lip.  

“If it’ll make you feel better you can take it out.” 

“What?"  

RK raises an eyebrow and smirks. Still so desperate to fuck with him, even with a literal hole in his chest.  

“I can’t feel it, Gavin.” 

“Okay, okay.” Gavin can’t take his eyes off of the billowing stain of electric blue soaking his jacket. “Let’s get you home. Fuck.” 

 

* * *

 

 

Gavin’s hands are shaking again and he tells himself it’s from stress and not the fact RK is perched on the corner of the bath, shirtless, staring at him with that cool gaze. He’s got a screw driver and a pair of scissors in one hand, an old, damp towel in the other. RK raises an eyebrow at him and smirks and Gavin wonders if he can hear how hard his heart is hammering in his chest.  

What is he saying? Of course he can. 

“You err might have to talk me through this.” 

RK licks his lips-  _has he ever done that before?_  - and lifts his chin, straightening up to give Gavin access to his chest plate. Gavin doesn’t even know where to start. He’s beautiful, obviously. Some pervert in Cyberlife sat down and drew up the plans for this body and they didn’t skimp on any of the detail. There’s a constellation of freckles across his ribs that dance against the lean musculature of his abdomen when his body simulates the motion of breathing. It makes all the moisture in his mouth disappear. If it weren’t for the gaping wound smack bang in the middle of his chest, at least 90% of Gavin’s increased heart rate would be down to arousal alone. He’s kind of thankful that he gets that cover to hide behind because otherwise the android would be completely aware of the entirely inappropriate affect his state of undress is having on him.  

He leans down and dabs the damp towel at the electric blue stains surrounding the bullet hole. RK doesn’t wince at the cold or the pain like a human would. Instead he continues to stare, his eyes glued to Gavin’s face as he tries to maintain composure. The thirium is thicker than blood, almost gel like, but it comes off easy enough. The faintest tinge of blue is left behind, staining the skin around the wound. He brings the tips of the tweezers to the butt of the bullet and pulls. It doesn’t budge.  

“I can’t get a good grip on it.” 

“You might need to access my internal chest cavity if the bullet is wedged in the chassis,” RK says slowly, voice still full of static as he continues to stare up at Gavin.  

“In English, please?” Gavin grumbles, leaning back to observe the wound carefully. 

“Press on my abdomen,” RK says. Gavin goes to do as he is told but flinches a little as RK deactivates the rest of the skin on his chest and stomach. The smooth surface peels back almost fluidly to reveal a removable panel, not unlike the one you would find on the back of a vintage TV remote.  Gavin exhales, and pushes the plate. It depresses slightly then retracts into the white casing, exposing a whirring hive of biocomponents and wires. “Try not to unplug anything important.” 

Gavin snorts because if he thinks too hard about what he’s actually about to touch he might faint. He angles the screwdriver to move the wires out from the top of the chest cavity so he can see where the bullet is lodged. As the metal tip brushes the wires RK shudders and Gavin freezes. 

“What did I do?” 

“Nothing.” RK murmurs, his eyes closing. “I... I’m fine.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Mmm, feels weird,” RK answers, his eyes screwed shut, his grip on the bath so hard Gavin is surprised the porcelain hasn’t cracked. “Keep going.” 

Gavin readjusts his grip on the handle of the screw driver and dips back in, pushing the wires out of the way while RK’s grip on the bathtub noticeably tightens. He hooks the wires around the back of a biocomponent he doesn’t know the name of and cranes his neck to see the exit wound on the other side of the white plastic. He nudges the tip of the metal with the tweezers to see if he can get a good angle of force to push it out. It’s well and truly stuck. 

“I’m going to have to use my hands, hang on.” 

RK exhales entirely unnecessarily and opens his eyes, fixing Gavin with one of his vacant yet loaded looks. Gavin drops the screw driver to the bathmat with a thud and tries again with his hand. His fingers are clumsy as he manoeuvres his wrist to the desired angle. He places the pad of his index finger against the metal of the bullet and braces with his thumb against the wall of RK’s chest cavity. His other hand grasps at the edge of the bathtub between RK’s thighs and he tries desperately to focus on getting the bullet out so the android can stop staring at him like that. He applies a little pressure to the bullet to test. No movement. A little more. Nothing. Another push and he slips, his finger bumping into the wall and RK makes a noise like an old analogue radio tuning.  

“Careful, Reed.” 

There’s an edge to his voice that makes Gavin flinch and he knocks his hand into the other side of the plating.  

“Fuck, sorry.” 

He drops to his knees in an attempt to stop his legs from shaking. From this angle he can almost see both ends of the bullet. It’s kind of surreal to be staring up at RK with his hand this far inside his chest. RK tilts his chin down but his face remains blank, his eyes flitting around Gavin’s face nonchalantly. There aren’t words for how much Gavin wants to bow out and run when he’s under that gaze. And yet he stays, elbow deep in android guts because his partner had to go and take a bullet for him.  

He grunts a little as he angles his wrist so he can press against the metal again. His knuckles graze a trailing wire as he twists and RK makes a tiny noise in the back of his throat. Like white noise, tinny and scrambled. Gavin hasn’t got a fucking clue what he’s doing or if this is even safe. He pushes the edge of the bullet again and feels a tiny bit of give. He strains to apply the same pressure. It’s dislodging slowly, grinding against its plastic restraints. RK’s perfect, smooth face twitches slightly as it happens and his LED is flickering red, yellow, red, yellow. His right arm snaps up to grab the arm Gavin has embedded inside him and his fingers practically cut off the circulation they’re so tight. His eyebrows knit together more so than usual and for one terrifying second Gavin thinks he might actually be about to hit him.  

The bullet slips out suddenly and hits the floor with a metallic pinging sound.  RK flops forwards, his forehead crashing into Gavin’s shoulder and he has absolutely no time to prepare for the sudden force and drops back on his heels, almost winded.  

RK doesn’t move.  

Neither does Gavin. He just sits there with one arm raised in an almost mock surrender, the other buried in his partners chest as he face plants his shoulder. He can’t see his LED from this angle and he hopes to god he hasn’t just shut down on him.  

He lets out a nervous laugh, 

“Are you okay?” 

RK turns his head slightly so he can speak and the ghost of his simulated breath on Gavin's neck gives him goose bumps. 

“Remove your hand, please.” 

“Oh, shit sorry.” 

He holds the android steady with his free hand so he can slide his other out from the opening. RK shudders a little at the sensation.  Gavin blanches when he sees his fingers are stained blue but the android seems utterly unfazed as always although his hair is slightly more dishevelled than usual.  

“Thank you,” RK says simply, as though Gavin had merely removed a bug from his hair or something equally as trivial. He stands up to his full height and Gavin feels a wave of something strange and hot bloom in his stomach. He watches as RK reassembles the wiring inside himself with those long pale fingers and closes up the chest plate. He tilts his chin down to look at him. “Stand up.” 

For a moment, Gavin is tempted to toss back a snarky remark about following orders but his eyes trail down RK’s bare chest to the bullet hole and that alone seems to draw him up off his knees. RK’s gaze follows him the whole time he gets to his feet, never wavering. When Gavin is stood awkwardly in front of him, he brings his hand up to his chin, holding him in place with his thumb and forefinger.  

“What are you doing?” Gavin laughs nervously, looking anywhere but into those eyes.  

RK tilts his head to the side, his LED spinning yellow. Scanning him. Whatever he finds, he seems satisfied, because he nods. A tiny movement.  

“What you won’t,” he replies, gently closing the gap between them.  

When RK presses his cool lips to Gavin’s, everything goes kind of still. He’s been here before of course; a little drunk and clutching at straws but in essence it’s the same thing. He’s felt RK’s lips on his, felt his hands on his hips, his tongue in his mouth, the whole shebang. So, he’s not quite sure why  _this,_ this desperately tentative and arguably awkward kiss is suddenly the reason why he can’t breathe. Like he’s the one with the bullet wound to the sternum.  RK tastes of nothing, smells like nothing and yet it’s all absolutely overwhelming. He flinches of his own accord, the movement breaking the kiss before it can really begin and he has to catch his breath because he realises, he stopped breathing when RK stepped towards him.  

RK is staring at him...of course he is.  

His LED is flickering again and his lips are still slightly parted. There’s the faintest movement across his face, a tension that bites through his features and he snaps his mouth shut.  

“I... I’m sorry, Detective,” He manages to say, his voice still a little tinny. “I thought-” 

“Shut up,” Gavin stops him. It’s the first time he’s ever seen him look less than composed and it’s kind of fucking weird. “Just, shut up.”  

He snakes his hand up to the back of RK’s neck and tugs him down to kiss him again. RK is stiff and un-pliable, his mouth barely responding to Gavin’s at first. He’s still stood like he’s in stasis, his back a taught straight line, unwavering. Then something snaps and he parts his lips, allows Gavin to lick into his mouth with fervour. He brings his hands up to Gavin’s chest, his fingertips trailing up and under his t-shirt and Gavin’s breathing stutters as they skim his ribs. He has literally no idea what he’s doing. But he knows he wants it. And has for a long time if he’s really fucking honest with himself.  

Gavin kisses like he does most things: fast and graceless. RK kisses like...well, like an android. Like he’s downloaded a programme called kissing.exe and ran the script. He moves by the book, following Gavin’s uncoordinated lead. Gavin wonders if RK can even really be getting off to this, if he can feel pleasure if he can’t feel pain? He bites down on RK’s lower lip in a desperate attempt to draw out a response and the android’s grip on his hips tightens painfully. For a moment he thinks he’s gone too far but then RK’s hand reaches up to grab his jaw and he devours his mouth, the kiss messy and feverish. He pushes Gavin back until his back hits the cool tiles of the bathroom wall, the air almost knocked out of his lungs if RK weren’t there to swallow it down with another kiss. Gavin vaguely remembers the first time RK slammed him against a wall and heat starts to coil in his belly at the thought of how easily the android had overpowered him. He grins against RK’s lips and his partner pulls back to look at him, still gripping his jaw.  

“What’s so funny, Reed?” 

RK’s eyes are still as blank as ever but now they’re also lidded and his lips are parted. Compared to his usual composure it’s downright sordid. He tilts his head again but this time it's so he can trail his synthetic lips against the skin on Gavin’s neck and he suddenly forgets whatever snarky response he had to that question. It’s almost like RK can sense it because Gavin swears he feels him smirk against his throat. The thumb of the hand on his jaw brushes gently across his lower lip before he pulls back a little and the same hand slips down to his neck and squeezes lightly.  _Fuck_. Gavin feels his eyes roll involuntarily back in his skull and a small, terrified part of him thinks RK might have hacked into his browsing history. There’s no other explanation for an android having this kind of niche knowledge.  

RK pulls back and Gavin practically whines at the lack of contact. Before he can protest, RK’s hands are snaking under his t-shirt, lifting it up and over his shoulders. He lets himself be undressed, throwing the shirt blindly into the corner. RK’s seen him shirtless before, Gavin remembers that well. He looked like he’d malfunctioned for a brief second before returning to the business-as-usual face he always wore. This time though, he was taking his time. He wonders if he’s ever seen RK look at something with anything more than mild enthusiasm. Right now, he looks like he’s at a crime scene, his LED a fluttering yellow at his temple, staring at Gavin like he’s a cadaver. It’s... a little unsettling. He feels his cheeks heating up under the scrutinising gaze as RK’s fingertips float up the space between them. They ghost over the lines of his tattoos, eliciting a trail of goose bumps in their wake, until they stop over the gnarled scar tissue at his ribs. Gavin can’t help but cringe at the intimacy of the touch; how long has it been since he’s let someone this close? 

“What’s this from?” RK murmurs, the pad of his thumb lightly grazing the old wound.  

Gavin takes a moment to get it together and swallows, 

“One of my first cases, first year after I graduated police academy,” his voice comes out hoarse and god dammit if that isn’t embarrassing. “Wasn’t wearing a stab vest.” 

RK nods once before he drops down to press his lips to it. He kisses it twice, once quickly and the second time longer, his eyes closed, as though he’s mapping it out in his head. He moves up but doesn’t stand straight, stopping at a jagged scar beneath Gavin’s collar bones.  

“This one?” RK traces the shape with his index finger left to right then back again.  

“Bar fight,” He says, watching RK’s eyes follow the shape of it along with his fingers. “Off duty,” he adds. 

RK smiles at that. He fucking  _smiles_. And god if Gavin wasn’t leaning on this wall, he’s sure his knees would have buckled.  

The android straightens up, and they’re nose to nose, or as close as they can be with the couple of inches he has on Gavin. They stay there for a moment, RK’s grey eyes settling on the scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. Gavin makes a face that scrunches his features and RK’s eyes flit to hold his gaze. Before he has the chance to ask Gavin clears his throat, 

“I was seven. Fell off a swing set.” The corner of RK’s mouth quirks at that. “Don’t...” 

“That is...endearing.” 

RK leans in to kiss at the skin beneath Gavin’s ear. Gavin reflexively grabs at the belt loops of his stupid Cyberlife trousers and pulls him in. He feels RK’s textured tongue dip out to taste the skin there and he groans because he’s definitely analysing him like he’s a blood sample. Fucking androids. He’s still completely at a loss as to whether this is even doing anything for him. He doesn’t know how their physiology works, never needed or cared to know until now. But suddenly the most important thing in the world to him is that this guy wants this, that he wants Gavin. He’s seen enough in all his years at the DPD to know the importance of consent and he needs to know if RK even understands what it is they’re doing. Gavin turns towards him, RK instinctively going in to kiss his lips except Gavin brings his fingers up to stop him.  

“Wait,” he says croakily, his fingers tracing the edge of that perfect mouth. RK’s LED does another golden flutter. “I just...” He rubs the scar on his nose with his finger. “I need to know this is what you want, Nines. Like, this isn’t me doubting your...your deviancy or whatever. I just need to know I’m not like taking advantage of you or like...yeah.” 

RK stares at him for a long moment. Then his face cracks into an almost-grin, 

“Do you honestly think you could ever make me do something I didn’t want to do?” 

...he has a point. He remembers the two occasions where he’d been on the receiving end of the android’s defence protocol. That sends a jolt of heat through his stomach.  

“That isn’t an answer,” Gavin almost whines.  

“Yes, Gavin Reed,” he pauses to punctuate his statement with a small kiss to the skin of his jaw. “I want you.” 

And God if that doesn’t make Gavin’s chest ache because he doesn’t deserve it.  

 

* * *

 

 

 

RK only experiences sensory overload around Gavin. 

Even with the most difficult of samples his processors take charge and sort out the mess of information. It’s what he was built for. He’s good at it. But when Gavin touches him it’s a different story. His vision glitches and he can feel his system struggle to prioritise tasks as his body reacts reflexively.  

And that's how he ends up in Gavin's bedroom, stood toe to toe with the human at the foot of the bed, without any idea how they traversed the apartment. It was only Gavin's need to breathe which seemed to give them pause.  

His processors hum around the new data he's collected. The taste of Gavin’s skin, the salt of his sweat. The genetic makeup of his saliva. The skin, the scars, the tattoos. He wants it all. Desperate to compile it. To add to the ever-growing file he has on the detective. He wonders if it will ever be enough.  

Gavin is as RK knows him to be: brash and uncoordinated yet... quietly considerate. There were moments he was intensely gentle between kisses where he'd stop to catch his breath and his fingers would linger in the space between them before he would cautiously tug him back in a way that was sweetly shy. Like he thought RK might have changed his mind in those few seconds.  

In fact, RK has never been so certain of anything in his short life span. His core temperature is arguably too high and he can't stop overriding his system alerts in favour of touching every inch of Gavin's skin but he finally feels alive.  

He pushes Gavin back onto the bed and runs a quick scan on the human to find his heart beating even faster than before. This is a recurring trend with the detective. He remembers the way his body reacted in similar situations. He takes in his red cheeks, the flush spreading down his throat to his chest, the pupils blown wide as he chews his bottom lip.  

"You like it when I over power you," RK states, his eyes roaming over the incriminating data in his vision; heart beat elevated, pupils dilated, core temperature rising. There's always an immediate spike. RK knows a little about humans experiencing pleasure from acts of violence. It seems sort of counterproductive but then, a lot of things about being human still don't make sense to him yet. Gavin squirms uncomfortably under the android's gaze and plays dumb.  

"I don't know what you mean."  

He's not looking at him. Instead he's staring at his own hands worrying the fabric of the sheets beneath him. RK lowers himself to the bed and crawls predator-like into Gavin's lap. The human stutters underneath him and grasps at the android's thighs to ground himself. 

"You know exactly what I mean, detective," RK says, lowering his voice and turning Gavin's face towards him by his chin. 

Gavin scrunches his nose at the implication, the golden glow of RK’s LED licking the lines of his face as he does. 

"Are you fucking scanning me?" He asks but there's no malice in his tone.  

"Yes," RK answers simply bringing their lips together in a chaste kiss. Gavin makes a noise like a growl in the back of his throat and bites down on his lower lip in retaliation, smirking. As always, he's looking to get a rise out of the android and in that moment RK couldn’t deny him anything even if he tried. Not when he's looking so pretty underneath him.  

The hand at his chin slides down to his throat and he pushes until Gavin is flat on his back. There's another spike in his vitals as his eyes flutter shut. His fingers grasp at the material of RK's trousers as he squirms in his hold. He finds a substantial grip and tugs. 

"H-hey aren't you gonna..." 

He looks up at him, eyes half lidded but cautious.  

"What?” 

RK wonders if he's done something wrong. He brings up his internet search references on human physical relationships and scans through them quickly.  

"Aren’t you...can I take these off?" Gavin asks quietly giving another experimental tug.  

There's a second where RK doesn't know what he means. And then he realises. And he's hit with an overwhelming feeling of fear. He releases his hold on Gavin's throat. 

"I wasn't designed to be intimate with humans...I don't have any sexual organs." He says slowly, watching Gavin's reaction. He had always assumed Gavin knew. That this could only ever really be a one-way thing. The look on his face though says it’s a surprise and RK almost flinches at the realisation.  

"What? At all?" Gavin says a little too quickly for RK's liking. And god, suddenly every single insecurity he's filed away in his code is suddenly at the forefront of his vision again. He's acutely aware of every single difference between them. How hot and pliable Gavin is beneath him. How hard he feels against the inside of his thigh. How loud his heart is beating and how utterly irregular his breathing is.  

And he can feel how clunky and artificial his own frame is. How his skin, no matter how high he turns up his thermal regulators, will always be synthetic and slightly cool. He can hear the hum of his internal processors, the pulse of his thirium pump.  

And he can feel the flat of his groin pressing into the human beneath him. Flat. Artificial. Clinical, almost.  

"No," he says after a long pause. "Is that a problem?" 

He's asked the question before he can stop himself, despite not wanting to know the answer. Because of course this is Gavin Reed who not so long ago despised everything RK stood for. Who could not bring himself to even speak to an android let alone touch one. Who over the past few months had become the one constant, unwavering  _good_ thing in RKs life and he'd been naive enough to- no,  _stupid_ enough to hope that things between then had changed and- 

"No. No, it's not that." Gavin is scrambling into an upright position, his hands settling eventually on the curve of the android's hip. He's not quite looking at him, his gaze flickering around his face instead. "Fuck. I just..." There’s another pause and he sighs and licks his lips. "So, this really doesn't do anything for you?" 

RK does a hasty internet search on Reed's colloquial phrasing and- 

Oh. 

He was doing it again. Being oddly considerate.  

"Define 'do anything,' detective," he says slowly. 

"You can't get off to this?" Gavin gestures at their entanglement. 

Another crude expression but one he understands at least. RK considers for a moment.  

"I can feel touch. Just not in the same way humans can." He says. Gavin looks slightly crest fallen and RK quickly tries to explain. "Trust me though that I am enjoying myself." 

"But it doesn't feel good." Gavin asks, running a finger down the synthetic muscle of RK's chest. It's not a question. 

"I was designed to hunt deviants. To be a detective. There was never any need for that kind of software. I don't have the ability to feel pleasure in the same way the Traci models do but..." He has a sudden idea, watching the way Gavin traces lines on his skin. "My touch sensitivity settings are currently operating at their standard level. I could increase them?" 

"What would that do?" Gavin asks, looking up at him, his fingers paused at the waistband of his trousers.  

"I assume it would increase my capacity to feel...or at least the way that I process touch...I can try..." He pauses momentarily to dig into his settings and pull the desired programme up. Hm, an increase of 30% should make a significant enough difference to test the- 

"Nines!" 

RK has absolutely no idea what happens. His vision is suddenly a kaleidoscope of error messages and static. There's a strange roaring in his ears as his thirium pump regulator beats so fast it practically hums. His hands at some point must have lashed out to wrench Gavin's hand away from him, to hold him at arm's length because he can't risk him putting his hands anywhere near him right now because... 

"...I...I don't..." 

"Did I hurt you?" Gavin looks terrified, his eyes darting from his own hand to RK's temple where his LED is no doubt a bright, glaring red. 

"It's...a lot." 

"A lot." Gavin repeats dumbstruck. RK lets go of his wrist after a second but Gavin’s hand remains in the air suspended as if frozen in place.  

"It's not unpleasant," RK tries again looking at his own palms, flexing the fingers as he feels the strange new sharpness of everything. As though he’s feeling sensation for the first time. Gavin blinks once then leans forwards. He's tentative, his eyes locked on RK's, waiting for a reaction.  

His fingertips brush gently against the skin of his chest just to the side of the hole where the bullet hit. If he were human it would be where his heart was. The gesture...so very careful... would have been a touching one where it not for the sensation it elicited in his skin. Like heat and pressure and electricity and frost all in one. For a moment there's nothing. Nothing but the agonising drag of skin on skin. It leaves a near tangible path like liquid flame; burning too hot but too cold at the same time so he shudders beneath the touch. It’s excruciating and he gasps, eyes screwed shut as he leans into the torturous touch. Overwhelmed but desperate for more.  

Gavin pulls back almost immediately. He’s staring at RK, his brows knit together in a mix of concern and alarm. RK presses his lips together, frustrated at the loss of touch and swallows.  

“Fuck...” Gavin breathes. He reaches out and lightly grazes the skin on the android’s arm, earning him a tiny, choked noise from the back of RK’s throat. “You’re so pretty like this.”   

The reverence in Gavin’s voice draws RK back to reality. He’s becoming more used to the feeling of Gavin’s hands on him, his system adjusting to the raw live wire feeling it elicits. It’s almost too much. Almost.  

He surges forwards, pinning Gavin beneath him, pressing them together. The rush of sensation is overwhelming. To finally feel all of his heat against him. It’s maddening. He kisses him then, delving his tongue into the hot, wetness of his mouth, desperate to feel every single sensation as if for the first time. Gavin whines against his mouth, dragging his fingers through RK’s hair, his nails harsh against the artificial planes of his scalp. RK shudders. Everything feels strange, new and utterly intoxicating. 

“Holy shit,” Gavin gasps, pushing RK off him so he can breathe. “Are you trying to kill me?” He’s laughing though. RK grins against the skin of his neck and slides his hand down Gavin’s stomach. He can feel the way the muscles flutter beneath his touch as his breathing hitches and the laugh dies on his lips.  

RK runs his hands down the hardness in his jeans and Gavin fists his hands in the sheets beside him and whines. The sound makes his chest hurt like it’s on fire and he catches his mouth with his own to swallow it down. He runs his tongue across Gavin’s as he dares to dip his hand beneath the material of his boxers.  Gavin reacts instantly and grasps the nape of RK’s neck with his hand, his fingernails digging into the seams of the port on the back of his neck in a way that makes RK’s skin thrum with static. The android tries his best to ignore the way tension pools in his stomach hot and molten and pulsing. He has a vague idea what to do in the sense that he’s watched a few questionable videos on the internet ‘just in case’. He drags his hand down the length of Gavin’s cock and feels the way he shudders beneath him. Gavin pulls away from the kiss for a millisecond to press his lips together and curse under his breath before RK uses his other hand to drag his face back so he can watch him come undone.  

“If you scan me now, I swear to god-” 

RK twists his wrist and the words die on his tongue.  

“Sorry, what was that?” 

“Fuck you,” Gavin hisses, flinging an arm over his face.  

“As you wish,” RK says, his mouth quirked into a smirk despite himself. He pulls his hand out of Gavin’s jeans and the human whines a little at the motion until RK tries in vain to tug at the offending article. Gavin lifts his hips and wiggles out of his remaining clothes, kicking them off when they reach his ankles. He pulls RK down against him and kisses him fiercely then, twisting his fingers into the android’s hair. RK likes the sensation, it’s how he imagines being burnt would feel without the pain. When Gavin pulls back this time, he looks a complete mess.  

“Can you take your fucking clothes off, please?”  

RK cocks an eyebrow at the detective’s impatience but nods. He gets up off the bed and Gavin rolls onto his side to watch, chewing his lower lip. RK takes his time. He undoes the clasp of his belt, his eyes darting up to meet Gavin’s heated gaze as he pulls the leather through the loops and casts the item to the ground. It hits the floor with a loud clatter that cuts through the heavy silence of the room. Then he undoes the button and zip of his trousers, letting the material hang loosely on his sharp hips for a moment as he considers how to do this. He still feels slightly uncomfortable, a sensation he’s not used to feeling about his own body. It had always been just a vessel before, something practical, to suit a purpose. Now, he’s got subconscious thoughts, background processes, running a mile a minute trying to pre-construct how the next few minutes are going to go. His eyes dart back to Gavin whose hands are trailing down the flat planes of his abdominal muscles, an almost pained expression on his face. RK hooks his thumbs into the material of his trousers and pulls, stepping out of them. He goes to pick them up from the floor, but a hand on his wrist stops him.  

Gavin had swung his legs round to sit on the edge of the bed, staring up at RK, eyes black. RK let himself be guided into his lap so Gavin can press his nose to his chest, hands running up the sides of the strong, synthetic muscle of his thighs. His touch was scorching, the movement raising fresh lines of sensation on the previously untouched skin. His fingertips trail down to the smooth, flat plane between his hips and RK feels his entire body twitch at the way Gavin looks up at him. The human licks a stripe up the flesh, and RK watches in fascination as the skin of his lower abdomen fades in and out like pools of water at the touch. He tilts Gavin’s face upwards, running his thumb over his slick lower lip as Gavin’s eyes flutter shut. He could feel his hot, panting little breathes and the skin on his hands retracts involuntarily at the sensation, peeling back to reveal cool, white plastic. Without thinking he places two fingers in the human’s mouth, keening at intense wet heat. Gavin hums around the plastic digits, swirling his tongue then sucking gently.  

“Had I known this was all it took to shut you up,” RK smirked, marvelling at the obedience of the human beneath him. “We should have tried this much sooner.” Gavin makes an impertinent noise in the back of his throat and RK fists the hair at the nape of his neck with his free hand and forces his face up to look at him, fingers still probing his mouth. “You’re being so well behaved, so good for me.”  

How many times has he pre-constructed this scenario? To finally feel the scratch of the detective’s stubble against the sensitive skin of his fingers, to be able to pull him close, to taste him. Gavin demands all of his attention and he has it. He’s always had it. But now RK feels possessive. He wants everything.

 

* * *

 

As RK removes his fingers from his mouth and brings them to his own lips, Gavin feels breathless. He watches the android hollow his porcelain cheeks to taste, eyes half-lidded and dark. RK is perfect. That’s an understatement. He marvels at the softness of the artificial skin and the way it fades in ephemeral patches as RK slowly comes undone. He’s  _almost_ the image of composure; his angelic face, the straight spine, steady hands. Almost. Gavin isn’t an expert on androids by any stretch of the imagination. But he knows RK. And he knows the subtle tells of his face and his body language; the minute hesitations betraying his nervousness. Gavin is trying not to think about this in human terms because the idea of RK being a virgin kind of freaks him out. He’s already too perfect, too clean for Gavin’s calloused hands to be the first to touch him like this and his eyes can't help but linger on the hole in his chest. RK seems to realise he’s staring at him because he tilts his chin to meet his gaze and Gavin’s train of thought is lost. He’s a fucking masterpiece. 

RK lowers himself back into Gavin’s lap, his nose and lips brushing the side of his face as he does. He doesn’t know why he does it but Gavin finds himself bringing his lips to RK’s LED and pressing a kiss there. There’s a microscopic flinch as RK falters a little at the movement, the ring cycling yellow against his will, before he settles on Gavin’s thighs. He turns his face to lock their gazes, an intensity in the look that sets Gavin’s cheeks aflame under its scrutiny. For a moment, Gavin can’t breathe, his entire body stilled by the way RK’s eyes are almost black, a thin, wintry line at the end of his pupils the only part of his irises that are still visible. Then RK wraps his hand around his cock again.  

Gavin has enough time to see the corner of RK’s mouth quirk up into a smirk before he has to shut his eyes against the mounting pressure in his groin. He gasps into RK’s shoulder, his hands gripping at the sharp angles of his perfect hipbones. The android’s stupid hand is straddling that line between too hard and not hard enough, clumsy but also frustratingly precise, every stroke pulling him closer to the edge. RK settles at the side of his neck, his teeth grazing the skin, making Gavin jump as he nips and sucks. His hands snake up the android’s spine, clawing at the artificial skin before he grazes the edges of the port on RK’s neck. The android stutters and nuzzles into the flesh of Gavin’s throat, a pained sound emanating from him. Gavin’s vaguely aware of the fact that RK feels like he’s pulsing with some form of static electricity from the touch but he can’t do anything because in that moment RK’s fingers tighten around him, practically vibrating against the sensitive skin and he chokes a whine into the android’s shoulder.  

“Gavin,” RK says, his voice thick with the hiss of interference. Gavin isn’t sure whether it’s a warning, a confession or a prayer but he hasn’t got the time to process because RK bites down hard into the flesh at his neck and he’s seeing stars. The molten core of his arousal burns hotly through his stomach and he’s suddenly sobbing through his own release as his thighs turn to steel. RK’s hand doesn’t stop until Gavin is shaking and begging through stilted breaths and RK clumsily pushes the two of them back so he falls onto Gavin’s sticky chest. He can’t bring himself to care about the mess. 

Gavin strains to look down through the strands of his hair at the android, 

“H-hey, you didn’t like, fry your processors, did you?” he laughs nervously, still trembling a little. RK turns his head up to look at him, eyes dark and lidded and shakes his head, a shy smile playing at the edge of his mouth. RK’s fingertips are dragging out across his bare chest and it takes Gavin a second to understand what he’s doing until his tongue darts out to taste the cum. Gavin can feel his jaw go slack as the android makes an unnecessary show of licking down the length of his fingers, maintaining eye contact the entire time, LED glittering gold in his peripherals. Half of him is horrified that RK is analysing the genetic makeup of his jizz in front of him. The other traitorous part of him is finding it  _insanely hot._  He lets his head falls back to the bed and groans. He feels RK wipe the rest of his chest with a corner of the sheet and he makes a mental note to wash his god damn covers tomorrow. 

Tomorrow. 

He lets the thought be chased away by the feeling of RK’s cheek against his sternum. He can’t think about that right now. 

They stay like that; Gavin fucked out, chest heaving and RK still live with static, hands shaking slightly as he traces the lines of the human’s ribs. Neither of them moves for a while, until RK props himself up and looks at Gavin with that wintry gaze, one stray curl hanging down against his forehead, a bluish tinge to his cheeks. Gavin gets a terrifying feeling in his stomach, a mix of longing and desperation and need. He doesn’t understand it. But he pulls RK down to his lips anyway. He finds himself threading his fingers desperately into the android’s hair, pulling him flush to him, so they can shuffle backwards and under the covers.  

He doesn’t know what this is, what this  _means,_ but he knows he’s tired and soppy and needs to be held. And right now, having RK draped across his chest is enough.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, that was a thing.
> 
> I kinda think there may be a tiny little fluffy epilogue to this...if you guys wanted it? 
> 
> Thank you again for all your lovely and funny comments, I love you. I've been writing and drawing so much recently that I kinda threw this all out into the internet void not really expecting anyone to want to read it because it was just me writing for the sake of getting these reed900 thoughts out on paper. So it's been so nice to see people actually read and enjoy it. Who knows, I might actually write/draw some of these weird AUs I've been ruminating on! 
> 
> x


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tiny bonus chapter.
> 
> This fic was only ever supposed to be 3 little snippets but I feel like we needed a little bit of extra fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, okay, so I'm really sorry this took me like a month to upload...I have no excuse other than I've been written 25,000 words of a different reed900 AU lmao.
> 
> Edit: you can read this [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822831/chapters/46936537) if you like slow burn reverse!AUs. 
> 
> This chapter just a tiny little thing but I wanted it to at least have a happy/hopeful ending because that was 100% my intention with where this story was going to end because I don't do sad endings.

Gavin wakes and stretches the tension out of his limbs; he can feel the click of every vertebrae as his spine un-knots like a string of beads. He’s getting old, he thinks as he succumbs to the soreness in his muscles, an ache like the burn of alcohol in the back of your throat or a 3 day old bruise. There's a sleepy haze over his mind for a few minutes that clouds the nagging feeling he should be doing something. He rolls over in the tangle of sheets and what he sees brings the dull ache in his chest to the forefront of his mind instead. He's alone.  

Part of him expected it but it still hurts; the weight of the night before hangs heavily in the vacant space in his bed. It's not like this has never happened before. He's no stranger to one-night stands, waking up jaded and alone, but for some reason he thought this might be... different. There had been no exchange of words, no promises to stay, but Gavin had done what he always said he wouldn’t. He had broken his one rule and had allowed himself to hope. He instinctively stretches his arm out in an attempt to fill the space beside him, his fingers closing on the empty sheets as he chews on his lower lip. He's not going to get upset about this. He's  _not_. He's going to get up, have a shower and be an adult.  

Fuck.  

He rolls off the bed and groans when he misses his footing and hits the floor with a thud. He scrubs his face with both hands and attempts to shake off the lingering feeling of absolute shittiness. His whole-body aches but he tries especially hard not to think about the dull soreness of his hips and thighs. He stands and casts his eye over the room. It’s still early, the light from behind his curtains still that crisp morning glow that licks over every surface unforgivably. His jeans are still discarded in the corner of the room where he'd carelessly flung them last night in the heat of the moment. And shit now he's thinking about RK's hands on his hips and them hastily unwrapping each other like presents and... 

_Stop_ , he inwardly chastises himself. 

RK's clothes are gone. It's not a surprise, of course but the finality of it sits in his stomach like a lead weight. He closes his eyes and lets out a breath; he really needs to get a grip. This was never going to end well. He’s made his bed and now he has to lie in it. He tells himself this over and over in his mind as though the mantra will somehow soothe the ache in his chest at the thought of having to sit across from him on Monday. He doesn’t know how he’s going to pretend like this didn’t happen. Maybe the android will put in a transfer and everyone will laugh and say ‘hey guess what, Reed's driven away another partner.’ And he’ll tell them all to go fuck themselves and withdraw back into himself because no one but RK ever dared to try and pull him back. Tina will know, of course, he's never been good at lying to her. She probably won’t be surprised, will probably tell him off for being selfish and impulsive and careless. All those things he’s always been, that RK never seemed to care about, but as usual they’ve ruined everything.  

_He’s_  ruined everything. 

He sighs and swallows the weird lump in his throat, fishing about in his drawers to pull out a clean pair of boxers and some faded sweat pants. He wanders half-dressed across the hallway into the bathroom and turns the shower on. The pipes gutter and groan and he swears he feels the exact same way. Icy water kisses his fingertips and he quickly withdraws his hand while the water heats up. It’ll take a few minutes; he’s been meaning to contact the landlord for weeks but- as with everything else in his life- he’s been putting it off. He can hear Peanut meowing so he skulks into the kitchen to get her some food while he waits. She’s sat on the back of the couch staring at him, a paw draped gracefully over the edge. Her wide, yellow eyes seem to see right through him as always; she cocks her head to one side and makes an indignant 'brrp’ noise at his arrival. 

“I know,” he says gruffly and scratches her ears. “I know.” 

She responds with a pitiful meow and arches her back into a stretch. She’s been witness to many a Gavin Reed drama, some much more violent and far messier than this. He supposes she’s used to her owner being a walking disaster by now.  

He opens the kitchen cupboard and swears almost immediately at the state of the bare shelves. They ran out of her cat food yesterday and with everything that happened… he kinda forgot. He takes a moment to close his eyes and ground himself because right now he’s tempted to smash a plate against the wall. He braces his hands against the work surfaces and counts to ten.  

Unfortunately, he only makes it to six because at that moment the front door bursts open and he jumps and hits his head off the open cupboard door. Reeling from the pain, he whirls around and almost falls into the fucking sink, grasping at the surfaces to steady himself. He scrambles around the little island in his kitchen so he can see the front door and comes face to face with the intruder.  

RK is stood in the doorway holding a little brown paper bag of groceries; his eyebrows are almost in his hairline, that one unruly curl hanging stubbornly against his forehead. He’s wearing Gavin’s DPD hoody, which is too small for him, the sleeves barely reaching his wrists. If he were anyone else, he’d look stupid as fuck, standing there dumbstruck in clothes that don’t fit. But he’s not anyone else and right now he looks like a fucking angel silhouetted against the light from the hallway.  

“I didn’t think you’d be awake yet,” RK says blinking owlishly, placing the paper bag down on the counter. Peanut does another ‘brrp’ noise and leaps off the sofa. She patters over to rub against RK’s legs, purring like a hive of bees, the traitorous feline. Gavin watches mesmerised as RK scoops her up into his arms and proceeds to talk her through each of the five different cat foods he has bought her. When he’s done, he sets her down and looks up at Gavin again, “I didn’t know what kind to get but she was hungry and I-” 

“I didn’t think you were coming back,” Gavin blurts out. He immediately cringes at the clumsy honesty of his own words, wishing he could somehow reel them back in, because RK just stares at him, his lips slightly parted. 

“Is...is that what you want?” He says hesitantly, his LED flickering yellow at his temple.  

“No!” Gavin practically shouts. God, he can’t stop staring at him. He rearranges his face but doesn’t look away. There’s a moment of silence where the android's LED does another golden loop before filtering to a serene blue. He dips his hand into the bag and pulls out a little cardboard cup with 'Gavin' written on the side.  

“You’re also out of coffee,” he says, his lips quirked into that tiny half smile.  

Gavin wishes he were an android right now so he could pre-construct the likely damage they would cause if he were to leap into his arms right there and then. He resists, if only to close the gap between them and take the cup from RK with tentative fingers.  

“You didn’t have to do this you know,” he laughs nervously, relishing the way the heat from the coffee warms his hands.  

“I was bored waiting for you to wake up,” RK smirks and clasps his hands behind his back like he does when he thinks he’s being funny.   

“Some of us need to sleep,” Gavin retorts, taking a long sip of the coffee, trying not to groan in satisfaction as the heat hits his stomach.  

“Some of us have a hole in the front of their chest cavity and require urgent specialist repairs,” RK says but he’s still smirking. He holds up one of the five bags of cat food. “Is this okay?” 

Gavin nods, grinning around the plastic rim of the coffee cup as he takes another gulp. 

“Okay, okay, give me like ten minutes to drink this and to shower and I'll drive you to Cyberlife.”  

He tears his eyes away from the sight of RK bending down to lovingly feed Peanut her premium range cat food and heads back into the bathroom. The water is hot now and the room is slowly filling with steam, the condensation starting to drip down the tiles. He wipes the dewy sheen off the mirror, takes a few big gulps of coffee, draining the cup and drops it into the bathroom bin. There’s a moment where he just stares at his own reflection, slightly warped in the damp glass, and wonders what he did to deserve this.  

He runs the cold tap, wincing at the way the shower sputters as he does, so he can brush his teeth. The mint foams in his mouth, washing away the bitter taste of coffee in a way that makes him feel a little more alive. He lowers himself to the same height as the taps so he can spit out the froth and rinse his mouth a few times. He jumps a little at the sensation of cool hands snaking round his middle to rest splayed against his abdomen. He straightens up and as he does he feels his back come into contact with the solid mass of RK's chest as the android leans in to bury his nose in Gavin's neck.  

“Y’know,” Gavin says, “I can’t shower with you attached to my back like that.”  

He's not really complaining though, he’d stay like this for hours if that’s what would make RK happy. The android mumbles something unintelligible into the skin below his ear that makes him shiver.  

“What was that?” 

RK turns his face to look at him in the reflection of the mirror, 

“I said, I'll come in with you.” 

Gavin can’t help the way his face heats up at the suggestion, especially when RK's fingers are resting so pointedly on his lower abdomen, in a way that makes the muscles there flutter every time he moves. He laughs nervously, 

“You sure you’re waterproof with that hole in your front, tin can?” 

“If I stay like this, yes,” RK says simply, pushing himself flush against his back to prove the point. Gavin can’t quite believe there was ever a time where he didn’t want this; or a time when RK was more likely slam him against a wall by his throat than speak to him. Things are so different now.  

“I don’t fancy being electrocuted this early in the morning,” Gavin says, twisting around to face him. RK pins him with that wintry gaze, the one that still makes him feel like he’s under interrogation.  

“Mmm, later then,” RK responds with a wry smile, before Gavin tugs him down by the strings of his borrowed hoody into a kiss.  He can’t help the little sound he makes in the back of his throat when their lips meet because he still can’t quite believe this is happening. Even more so when RK pushes him back against the sink, tilting his head back with his fingertips against his jaw, so he can deepen the kiss. Gavin eventually has to whine against his lips and pull away to remind him that he needs to breathe. RK does the little half smile and releases his grip on his hips.  

“You gonna get them to install a taser or something?” Gavin asks breathlessly, slipping out of his clothes so he can dive into the welcoming heat of the shower.  

“If you like,” RK tosses back, as he walks to the door. Gavin peers around the shower curtain at that, his brow furrowed in curiosity. The android leans against the door frame nonchalantly but there’s a flash of something else in those grey eyes. “But there’s some other upgrades you might be interested in.” 

Gavin smooths his water hair back over his face so he can see better.  

“What?” 

RK just winks- he fucking  _winks_ \- and pulls the door closed behind him. 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it! Happy soft boys.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the lovely comments, I never expected such a wonderful response, they really made my day over and over again<3
> 
> As I said, I've been writing [another AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822831/chapters/46936537)...which is now the slowest of slow burns fml
> 
> :)  
> x

**Author's Note:**

> I've basically written the rest of this I just don't know what to do with it x


End file.
